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Slow But Steady Job Gains Point to Region’s Recovery

By David Robinson

April 15, 2011
 

The Buffalo Niagara region added jobs for the seventh straight month during March, solidifying the area’s slow recovery from the steep job losses it endured during the Great Recession.

Overall, the region added 2,500 jobs over the last year—a0.5 percent annual increase — that is being fueled entirely by growth in the private sector, especially among local service firms.

That pocket of strength is allowing the region to absorb continued, but slowing, job losses in manufacturing, along with a rising tide of job cuts at government entities, especially at local schools and federal and state entities.

That private-sector job growth accelerated to a 0.9 percent annual rate during March, accounting for the addition of 3,800 jobs throughout the two-county region over the last year. Hiring by retailers and for business and professional services jobs fueled much of the growth, according to figures released Thursday by the state Labor Department.

The March job numbers solidify the recent signs that the local labor market is recovering slowly from its 16-month slump during the depths of the recession. The local job market now has added jobs during every month since August and during 10 of the last 12 months, dating back to April 2010. The private sector, which excludes government agencies, has grown for 12 straight months.

“We’re going in the right direction, and it’s very broad-based,” said John Slenker, the Labor Depart-

ment’s regional economist in Buffalo. “Obviously, you’d like to see it stronger. We have a lot of ground to catch up from the start of the recession.”

At the current pace of job growth, it would take more than four years for the region to recover all of the jobs it lost during the downturn that began to batter the local job market during 2008.

While manufacturing remains weak, it has been slowly stemming the job losses that have been the norm at local factories for the better part of three decades. The region lost just 200 factory jobs over the last year—a0.4 percent decline that was a vast improvement for an industry that has seen almost two of every five manufacturing jobs vanish over the last decade.

“While the losses haven’t completely stopped, the losses are much smaller than we once had,” Slenker said.

At the same time, cash-strapped government agencies have been cutting jobs, with total government employment in Erie and Niagara counties sliding by 1.3 percent, or 1,300 jobs, over the last year. Cutbacks in state government, along with employment reductions at local schools, accounted for most of the decline.

Among the state’s 13 biggest metro areas, the Buffalo Niagara region’s job growth ranks as the sixth-fastest, trailing only the gains in New York City, Glens Falls, Nassau and Suffolk counties, Rochester and Syracuse.

The pace of job growth was mixed in rural portions of Western New York, where Genesee County added jobs at a 1.8 percent annualized pace, and growth hit 0.8 percent in Wyoming County. Allegany County lost jobs at a 0.6 percent pace, while Cattaraugus County lost jobs at a 0.9 percent annual rate, and Chautauqua County had a 1.5 percent drop.

drobinson@buffnews.com