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Region Adds 4,900 Jobs During Past Year

13th Straight Month For Growth

By David Robinson

October 21, 2011 

Job growth in the Buffalo Niagara region cooled a bit in September, but it still remained robust by Western New York standards, the state Labor Department reported Thursday.

The region added 4,900 jobs during the 12-month period that ended in September— a 0.9 percent job growth rate.

The pace of job growth was the slowest in four months, and half of the 1.8 percent increase the region enjoyed during June. It also was significantly slower than the upwardly revised 1.4 percent increase during August.

But John Slenker, a Labor Department economist in Buffalo, said the pace of job growth remains solid and noted that it’s not unusual for monthly growth rates to fluctuate. Despite the slowdown, September was just the 12th month since the summer of 2000 — and the fourth month in a row — that the region has generated jobs at a pace of 0.9 percent or better.

“The pace has slowed a bit,” Slenker said. “But on a historical basis, these numbers are straight ‘A’s.’ ”

The September increase was the 13th consecutive month of job growth for the region, while the private sector, which excludes government agencies, has grown for 18 straight months.

Hiring by private-sector firms also remained solid, growing at a 0.9 percent annual rate, as those companies added 4,000 jobs over the last year.

“We have a steady recovery,” he said. “We’re coming out of it in Western New York. We’ve got overall strength that’s been consistent.” The job numbers, despite the slowdown in growth, also are further proof that the local job market is continuing its recovery from a recession that, at its low point, cost the region about 17,000 jobs. Even with the recent flurry of job growth, the region still needs to gain another 11,400 jobs to get back to where it was before the recession hit — a recovery that would take more than two years at the current pace of job growth.

Nearly three of every five jobs that were created during September came from a big rebound in construction work, which had been depressed for the last two years but rebounded to a 21-year high during September. The number of construction jobs jumped by nearly 14 percent, compared with

the 20-year lows of the last two years, and was the second-highest for any month since October 1990.

Other pockets of the private sector also showed strength. Education and health services jobs have grown by 2 percent over the last year, while professional and business services are up 2.2 percent.

Government hiring, which had been weak for most of this year, also picked up, rising by 1 percent, fueled by a nearly 4 percent increase in local government jobs that offset declines in state and federal employment.

The region’s job growth was tied for the fifth-fastest among the state’s 13 major metropolitan areas, trailing only Rochester, Utica, Putnam-Rockland- Westchester counties and Syracuse. The local growth rate was slightly weaker than the 1.1 percent statewide increase.

The pace of job growth was mixed in rural portions of Western New York, where Genesee County fared the best with a 5.2 percent spike in annual job growth, followed by a 0.6 percent rise in Cattaraugus County. Chautauqua County lost jobs at a 0.9 percent annual pace, while Allegany County had a 1.1 percent drop. The decline reached 2.3 percent in Wyoming County.

drobinson@buffnews.com