Syracuse region leads state’s metro areas in job losses

The Syracuse metro area lost 3,300 jobs between July 2013 and this past July, a decrease of 1.1 percent, according to the latest monthly employment report from the New York State Department of Labor issued Thursday

The Syracuse region lost 3,100 private-sector jobs in the same period, a decline of 1.2 percent. It was the only metro area in New York to lose private-sector jobs in the past year. The Elmira region had no change. And Syracuse and Elmira (-200 jobs) were the only two metro areas to post a decline in total jobs in the same time period.

Other CNY areas generated employment gains. The Ithaca region added 500 total jobs year-over-year, an increase of 0.8 percent. Ithaca’s private-sector employers added 500 jobs between July 2013 and this past July, up 0.9 percent.

In the Utica–Rome metro area, the state figures indicate a year-over-year net gain of 900 total jobs, or 0.7 percent. The region added 1,400 private-sector jobs, a 1.5 percent increase, in the same 12-month period.

The Binghamton area gained 500 total jobs year-over-year, an increase of 0.5 percent, according to the data. In the same period, the region’s private-sector employers added 400 jobs, up 0.5 percent.

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 remained at 6.6 percent in July, remaining at its lowest level since November 2008.

The Empire State economy added more than 17,000 private-sector jobs in July led by job growth in the downstate region, according to the Labor Department’s employment report.

The latest monthly employment gain raised New York’s private-sector job count to 7,603,300, which the state calls “an all-time high.” The Empire State has added 140,600 private-sector jobs in the last year, with 120,400, or 86 percent, of them downstate.

The preliminary July unemployment rate of 6.6 percent for New York is down from the 7.7 percent rate posted in July 2013, according to the Labor Department.

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