Syracuse region leads New York’s metro areas in job losses

No region of New York state has fared nearly as poorly as the Syracuse area in creating jobs in the last year.

The Syracuse metro area lost 3,600 total jobs between August 2013 and this August, a decline of 1.2 percent, according to the latest monthly employment report from the New York State Department of Labor issued Thursday.

The Binghamton region was the only other metro area in New York to lose jobs in the same 12-month period, posting a decline of 200 positions, or 0.2 percent, according to the Labor Department data

The Syracuse area lost 3,400 private-sector jobs year-over-year, a decline of 1.3 percent. The Binghamton region lost 100 private-sector positions in the same time span. As with total jobs, Syracuse and Binghamton were the only two New York metro areas to lose private-sector jobs in the last 12 months.

Other CNY areas generated employment gains. The Ithaca region added 700 total jobs year-over-year, an increase of 1.1 percent. Ithaca’s private-sector employers also added 700 jobs between August 2013 and this August, a 1.3 percent gain.

In the Utica–Rome metro area, the state Labor Department figures indicate a year-over-year net gain of 200 total jobs, or 0.2 percent. The region added 700 private-sector jobs, a 0.7 percent increase, in the same 12-month period.

The state’s private-sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York state employers that the U.S. Department of Labor conducts.

Statewide figures
New York state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent in August from 6.6 percent in July and 7.2 percent in August 2013.

The Empire State economy added 3,900 private-sector jobs in August, an increase of 0.1 percent, from the previous month, according to the Labor Department’s employment report.

But in the last year, private-sector employers in New York have added 142,900 jobs, a 1.9 percent increase. However, 130,300, or 91 percent, of those new jobs were located downstate.

The federal government calculates New York’s unemployment rate partly based upon the results of a monthly telephone survey of 3,100 state households that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com