Jobless rate up but some firms are now hiring

Six Flags seeks 1,500 workers, Ninety Nine Restaurants eyes 1,000

Unemployment in the fivecounty Albany metro rose to 6.3 percent in February, as pandemic job losses continue to affect the economy. A year ago, on the eve of the COVID -19 lockdown, the rate stood at 4.0 percent.

But employers have begun hiring. At Telescope, a high-end manufacturer of Americanmade outdoor furniture, management on Tuesday was seeking to fill 40 positions as the company prepares for what’s expected to be another busy season driven by people spending summer in their backyards.

On Monday, Ninety Nine Restaurants said it was seeking to hire 1,000 workers by May 3 in New York and New England.

And Six Flags Great Escape has been seeking to fill 1,500 seasonal positions as it prepares for a busy summer season.

The number of unemployed people actively seeking work, which peaked at 58,500 last April, has fallen back to 28,000 in February, still above the 17,700 unemployed in February 2020.

And there were still 32,400 fewer jobs in the five-county metro than a year earlier.

But the Albany metro — Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties — nevertheless had the state’s second lowest unemployment rate, tied with the Dutchess/ Putnam metro. Ithaca, at 5.3 percent, had the state’s lowest jobless rate.

Data are not seasonally adjusted and are subject to revision.

The hardest hit job sectors continue to be leisure and hospitality, down 9,900 jobs or 26 percent, and accommodation and food services, down 9,500 jobs, or 28 percent.

So the fact that some restaurants and tourism destinations are hiring suggests a recovery made be under way.

The national jobs report for March, to be issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, may shed more light on the strength of that recovery.