Upstate lags in job recovery from recession

Ulster-Dutchess-Sullivan region had 1,700 fewer jobs last month than 7 years earlier

The Mid-Hudson Valley and other areas of upstate New York continue to trail downstate, as well as the nation as a whole, in job growth following the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009, according to a new state report.

The report from the state Comptroller’s Office said total employment upstate — comprising the 51 counties north of Orange and Putnam counties — rose 0.3 percent from June 2009 to June 2016 compared to 2.2 percent for the 11 downstate counties and 1.9 percent nationally.

Ulster, Dutchess and Sullivan counties, referred to by the Comptroller’s Office as the Upper Hudson Valley, lost 1,700 jobs in the seven-year span, according to the report. The Capital Region, comprising Greene and Columbia counties and six counties to their north, was an upstate outlier, gaining 11,600 jobs during the same period, the report says.

The report found upstate as a whole has recovered 79 percent of the 128,000 jobs lost during the recession.

“On the surface, New York’s economy has rebounded from the Great Recession,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a prepared statement accompanying the report. “But it should come as no surprise that a closer look reveals pockets of the state still have a long way to go to catch up.”

The upstate regions with the

steepest job losses from June 2009 to June 2016

were the Southern Tier (down 7,500) and the Mohawk Valley (down 5,500).

Upstate regions with job gains during the span, other than the Capital Region, were the Finger Lakes

and Western New York.

Losing jobs — besides the Upper Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley — were Central New York and the North Country.

In a positive sign, the report noted, all upstate regions except the Southern Tier gained jobs in the 12-month period ending in June 2016, and the Upper Hudson Valley was the

region with the strongest gains during that period.

Also, the overall upstate economy saw larger gains in average wages (3.3 percent) than either downstate or the nation over the last

year.

Total employment across upstate New York now stands at slightly over 3 million, representing 32 percent of all jobs statewide, the report said.