September 24, 2013

State Labor Department Releases Preliminary August 2013 Area Unemployment Rates

The State Labor Department today released preliminary local area unemployment rates for August 2013, which are calculated following procedures prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state's unemployment rate relies in part on the results of a telephone survey of 3,100 households (out of more than 7 million) in New York State.

The state's private sector job count increased by 126,800 from August 2012 to August 2013. As reported last week, the state's unemployment rate was 7.6% in August 2013 and the economy added 22,700 private sector jobs, bringing the job count to a record high.

**Local Area Unemployment Rates* (%), August 2012 and August 2013**
(not seasonally adjusted)

*Data are preliminary and subject to change
	August 2013*	August 2012
Upstate NY (52-co. area)	7.1	8.2
Metro Areas	7.0	8.1
Albany-Schenectady-Troy	6.3	7.5
Binghamton	7.5	8.7
Buffalo-Niagara Falls	7.3	8.4
Elmira	7.7	8.7
Glens Falls	6.0	7.1
Ithaca	5.6	6.4
Kingston	7.6	9.0
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown	7.0	8.2
Rochester	6.9	8.0
Syracuse	7.3	8.3
Utica-Rome	7.3	8.2
Non-metro Counties	7.4	8.4

Downstate NY (10-co. area)	7.8	8.7
New York City	8.7	9.4
Suburban Counties	6.2	7.4
Nassau-Suffolk	6.2	7.5
Putnam-Rockland-Westchester	6.2	7.3

The data in the table above are not seasonally adjusted, which means they reflect seasonal influences (e.g., holiday and summer hires). Therefore, the most valid comparisons with this type of data are year-to-year comparisons of the same month; for example, August 2012 versus August 2013.

Unemployment rate highlights in August 2013:

The counties in New York State with the lowest unemployment rates include:
- Hamilton County (4.2%)
- Saratoga County (5.4%)
- Yates County (5.4%)
- Tompkins County (5.6%)
- Ontario County (5.7%)

The counties in New York State with the highest unemployment rates include:
- Bronx County (12.0%)
- Kings County (9.6%)
- St. Lawrence County (9.1%)
- Oswego County (8.8%)
- Montgomery County (8.5%)

Labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are the most up-to-date estimates of persons employed and unemployed by place of residence. Estimates are available for New York State, labor market regions, metropolitan areas, counties, and municipalities of at least 25,000.

See State and Area Unemployment Rates (opens in new window)
See Unemployment Rate Map (opens in new window)
See Jobs and Unemployment Fact Sheet (opens in new window)

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