Unemployment in Utica Region Increases

The Central NY Business Journal reported that the state's June unemployment rate increased to its highest level since October 1992, according to figures released today by the New York State Labor Department.

June's unemployment rate was 8.7 percent, up from 8.2 percent in May and 5.3 percent a year ago. For the month, the number of unemployed state residents jumped to more than 854,000, the largest number on records dating back to 1976.

After seasonal adjustment, New York State's private-sector job count decreased over the month by nearly 18,000, or 0.2 percent, to about 7.08 million. The job total has now dropped for 10 consecutive months.

Since the state's private-sector job count peaked in August 2008, New York has lost nearly 236,000 private-sector jobs, erasing more than half of the 400,000 jobs added during the last economic expansion from 2003 to 2008, according to the Labor Department.

Since June 2008, the number of nonfarm jobs fell 1,900, or 1.4 percent, and the number of private-sector jobs dipped 1,800, or 1.8 percent, in the Utica-Rome region. The area's unemployment rate was 7.7 percent in June 2009, compared with 7.2 percent in May and 5.2 percent in June 2008.