The latest numbers on private sector jobs in the Rochester area and the state overall continue to show a slowing in the growth rate of that employment.
That’s according to Kurt Meichtry, a labor analyst with the NYS Labor Department, who noted that “the further we get into the recovery, the slower it’s been (the rate of job growth) the last year-and-a-half or so.”
In November, the Rochester region saw private sector employment growth that was about flat compared to November of a year ago. It was up just 100 jobs. Even so, Meichtry noted that November 2023 marked the 31st straight month there has been at least some job expansion in the Rochester metro area.
Meichtry noted that in general, there aren’t usually big swings in employment for the fall into the winter.
“We don't see a lot of changes month to month, this time of year,” said Meichtry. “Going into the fall, we see a little more with the uptick in retail trade, and things like that gearing up for the holiday. But yeah, we shouldn't see that too much of a change going into the next month or two.”
Meichtry said that the health care sector, again, was the part of the local economy that saw some growth in the latest jobs numbers.
Statewide, New York saw the number of private sector jobs increase slightly in November, compared to a year ago. The number of those jobs increased by just one percent in November 2023 compared to November 2022.
The statewide unemployment rate in November was 4.3%, which was up slightly from the 4.1% rate of November, 2022.
On Wednesday, the NYS Labor Dept. reported that the unemployment rate in the Rochester metro for November was 3.6%. That was up from 3% in November 2022.
