While the news is positive, it almost feels like being the smartest kid in the dumb class (from the IJ):
Tompkins leads N.Y. in job growth
Govt., service jobs see largest local growth; manufacturing declines
5:17 PM, Aug 23, 2013
Written by
Joseph Spector
ALBANY — Jobs grew three times faster in Tompkins County between 2002 and 2012 than in New York State, a report released Friday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli shows.
Total employment in Tompkins County was up 12 percent, while jobs grew 4 percent in New York state from 2002 to 2012. The Ithaca area’s job growth was the largest increase in the state. New York City was the second-fastest area for job growth, with an 8.3 percent increase.
Employment was up 3 percent in the Poughkeepsie area, up 2 percent in the lower Hudson Valley and flat in Rochester.
Total employment was down 6.5 percent in Binghamton and down 4 percent in Elmira over the decade, the report showed.
Tompkins County’s job growth for the 10-year period saw its greatest expansion in government and service jobs. About half the county’s 64,000 jobs are in the education and health care services.
Government employment in Tompkins County grew 15.1 percent from 2002 to 2012, while across New York state government employment declined 2 percent for that period. For the United States, government employment grew 1.8 percent in those 10 years.
Service sector jobs in Tompkins County grew by 14.8 percent for the 10-year period, outpacing the state’s 9.4 percent growth in service jobs and the nation’s 8 percent growth, the report showed.
Tompkins County saw a 13.7 percent decline in manufacturing jobs from 2002 to 2012, a rate lower than the 20 percent reduction in New York State manufacturing jobs and an 18 percent decline in the nation.
New York has made gains in job growth since the recession in 2009, but the pace is still behind the national average, the report found.
DiNapoli said that for the first time in six years, national job growth rates have exceeded those in New York.
“The good news is that New York’s job count has increased above its pre-recession levels,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The bad news is that, over the past year, we have fallen short of the national growth rate in several major employment sectors.”
New York added 110,000 jobs between June 2012 and June 2013, but the national job growth rates exceeded New York’s in nearly every major employment sector, DiNapoli said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who took office in 2011, has made the upstate economy a top priority, and his administration has touted that the state has regained all the jobs lost during the recession. New York’s unemployment rate in July was 7.5 percent, its lowest level since February 2009.
DiNapoli, however, painted a different picture. New York outperformed the nation in job growth in the education and health-care sectors, but government jobs decreased in New York by 1.1 percent as local governments and schools grappled with budget woes.
Overall, New York’s job growth declined to 1.8 percent in 2012 from 2.1 percent in 2011, while the national rate increased.
The numbers are a change from previous years, DiNapoli said. Between 2007 and 2011, New York outpaced the nation in job growth — in large part because of the housing bubble that hurt other states more than in New York.
New York per capita personal income also exceeded the national rate: $52,095 in 2012 compared to a national average of $42,693.
DiNapoli pointed out that the state’s recovery from the recession has been uneven across the state. Private employment rebounded in New York City, the Ithaca area, the Capital region and the Buffalo area.
But Binghamton, Kingston, Utica, Syracuse and Elmira saw declines in private-sector employment.
The link:
http://www.ithacajournal.com/article...Local%20News|p