[Ex-Ithacan]

Good news for the Ithaca metro, and not as bad for the state as a whole as for most of the nation.
From the Ithaca Journal:



Tompkins has N.Y.'s lowest jobless rate in Nov.
From staff and wire reports • December 17, 2009, 6:15 pm


Tompkins County had the lowest unemployment in New York during November posting a 5.3 percent jobless rate for the month.

For all of New York the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6 percent in November from 9 percent in October. The rate has generally ticked upward since the state went into recession in August 2008 and topped out around 9 percent starting in late summer. Labor officials say the new numbers reflect improvement, but the data don't yet show a trend to recovery.

For the Ithaca area, November's unemployment rate was down from 5.5 percent in October, but ahead of November 2008 when the rate was 4.3.

The latest figures released Thursday showed the number of unemployed New Yorkers dropped from 871,000 to about 834,000 over the month. In Tompkins County, an estimated 3,000 people were unemployed for the month.

In Tioga County November's unemployment rate was 8.4 percent, up from 8.0 percent in October and 5.9 percent in November 2008. In Cortland County, November's unemployment rate was 8.5 percent, up from 6.4 percent in October and 7.2 percent in November 2008.

The jobless rate in New York City improved to 10 percent from 10.3 percent a month earlier. That matched the 10 percent national unemployment rate.

Fulton County in the southern Adirondacks had the highest jobless rate at 9.5 percent.