The state unemployment rate has risen in upstate’s rural and urban areas as well as on Long Island but dropped slightly in New York City, according to new numbers released by the state Labor Department that track local unemployment rates between September 2011 and last month.
- In the Albany-Schenectady-Troy region, unemployment rose from 7.1 percent to 7.5 percent.
- In Glens Falls, it rose from 7.2 percent to 7.4 percent.
- In non-metro upstate counties, it rose from 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent
- In the entire 52-county upstate region, it rose from 7.8 percent to 8.1 percent
- Downstate — including NYC and the suburbs, including Long Island, it dropped from 8.4 percent to 8.3 percent.
- In New York City, it fell from 9.1 percent to 8.8 percent
- In the downstate suburbs, it rose from 7 percent to 7.3 percent.
Update: Statewide, the September 2011 rate was 7.8 percent; it is now 8.9 percent — a comparison that for some bizarre reason was left out of the Labor Department’s release. The DOL below touts the fact that “the state’s overall unemployment rate fell from 9.1% to 8.9% in September 2012,” but doesn’t make it clear that the 9.1 percent is from August 2012, not September 2011.
UpdateX2: The DOL notes that 8.9 percent number cited for September 2012 is seasonally adjusted; the not seasonally adjusted number for September 2011 and September 2012 is 8.2 percent — that is, a flat unemployment rate statewide year over year.
Here’s the complete county map of unemployment for August 2012:
Here’s the methodology from the DOL’s release:
The State Labor Department today released local area unemployment rates for September 2012, which are developed using a procedure determined by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). As reported in last week’s jobs press release, the state’s overall unemployment rate fell from 9.1% to 8.9% in September 2012. The state rate relies on the results of a telephone survey of 3,100 households (out of more than 7 million) in New York State as a primary source of data.
In contrast, the USDOL’s private sector job count, which is based on a survey of over 18,000 employers, increased by more than 134,000 from September 2011 to September 2012. In addition, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased by 3.4%, from 87,996 to 85,018 during that time period. Due to its larger sample size, the payroll survey is considered a more reliable gauge of the state’s economy.
Unemployment rate highlights in September 2012:
The counties in New York State with the lowest unemployment rates include:
- o Tompkins County (5.7%)
- o Hamilton County (6.3%)
- o Yates County (6.6%)
- o Ontario County (6.7%)
- o Putnam County (6.7%)
The counties in New York State with the highest unemployment rates include:
- o Bronx County (12.1%)
- o Fulton County (10.6%)
- o Montgomery County (9.9%)
- o Orleans County (9.9%)