Unemployment Continues to Improve in February

Regional unemployment closing in on 2007 mark.

Year-to-year unemployment continues to improve according to labor market data released for February 2016. According to the NYS Department of Labor, unemployment rate in the central Capital Region fell to 4.4%. The region’s rate hasn’t been this low since February 2007 (4.37%). The region continues to outperform the state rate at 5.4%. Below is a breakdown of the rate by county for the central Capital Region:

Albany County: 4.2%
Rensselaer County: 4.7%
Saratoga County: 4.3%
Schenectady County: 4.6%

The region also continues to add new jobs, year-to-year. In February 2016, the region saw approximately 415,000 people employed. One year ago, the region saw approximately 405,400. The total number of unemployed fell to approximately 19,100 in February 2016. At the same time in 2015, the region’s total unemployed was approximately 21,500.

For more labor force data, please see CDRPC’s “Labor Force” page which includes an interactive chart of historical data.