ALBANY, N.Y.—June job numbers show promising improvements in private sector job creation in New York State, according to the Monthly Economic Outlook released today by The Public Policy Institute of New York State (PPI). With June’s year-to-year private sector job growth at 2.3 percent, New York nearly matched the national growth rate of 2.4 percent. The state’s private sector job count grew by 173,000 to 7.88 million in June 2015, with strong growth in construction, heath/education services, and in professional and business services. Manufacturing remains a relative soft spot in the state’s economy, with manufacturing employment falling 0.3 percent, or by 1,300 positions, over the last 12 months. National manufacturing jobs grew by 1.3% over the same period.
Job growth has become more balanced across New York State as well. Year-to-year private sector growth was 2.6 percent downstate (and 3.1 percent in New York City), compared to 1.5 percent upstate. Buffalo showed a particularly strong recovery, with a 2.8 percent growth rate, translating to an increase of 13,000 private sector jobs. Several areas of the state, including the Capital Region and the Buffalo-Niagara region, also showed promising increases in manufacturing jobs, despite the overall state decline.
New York State’s unemployment rate matched the federal rate of 5.3 percent for June 2015, with each of the state’s fifteen major metropolitan areas showing a lower unemployment rate in June 2015 compared to the prior year. The remaining non-metro areas of the state also showed a reduction in their aggregate unemployment rate over the same period, from 6.2 percent to 5.6 percent.
Combined state and local government employment over this period remained essentially flat, with an increase of 0.1 percent, or 900 positions.
“These overall job numbers remain encouraging, especially the improving job picture in upstate New York.” said Heather C. Briccetti, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State. “Private sector investment and job growth are the best remedies for many of the state’s most serious challenges. Combined, they lead to increases in family income without new government mandates, and generate increased public revenues without tax increases. We need to ensure that New York’s public policy decisions continue to support our economic recovery.”
The Public Policy Institute (PPI) is the research arm of The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
The “Monthly Economic Update” and “Upstate New York Economic Snapshot” are based on federal and state jobs data, and provide business leaders and state policy makers with data on job growth over the past year, job recovery since the 2009 recession, and longer term job trends.