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Home > About BNE > Press Room > Current Articles > May > Region's job growth heats up in April

Region’s job growth heats up in April

Buffalo Niagara adds jobs at 0.8% annual rate

By Matt Glynn
Updated: 05/16/08 6:40 AM

The Buffalo Niagara region added 4,200 jobs in April from a year ago, showing employment gains amid uncertain economic times nationally.

The region’s overall job count was up 0.8 percent from a year ago, according to the state Department of Labor. That included a 0.4 percent increase in private sector jobs, or 1,700 jobs.

Despite the increase in jobs, Buffalo Niagara’s unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent, compared with 4.7 percent a year ago. That was the highest rate for April since 2004.

Manufacturing continued to be a weak area for the region, losing 1,700 jobs from a year earlier. The continuing strike at American Axle & Manufacturing’s area plants contributed to the dropoff.

“Given the anxiety in the national economy, we are showing some remarkable resilience,” said John Slenker, regional economist with the state Labor Department.

The region recorded gains of 2,000 jobs in professional and business services, 1,300 jobs in leisure and hospitality and 1,100 in financial activities.

Government jobs rose by 2,500, or 2.6 percent, partly due to local education jobs, Slenker said.

Construction jobs dropped 9.8 percent from a year ago, a decline of 1,800 jobs. The dropoff could be due to a slow start to the spring construction season.

Tim O’Brien, managing director of Spherion Staffing Services in Rochester, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the state’s April jobs report. “It does reflect there still is opportunity here,” he said.

Spherion’s New York Employee Confidence Index increased in April. One of its findings: 72 percent of workers surveyed were confident in the future of their employer, up 13 percentage points from the previous month.

That could indicate people are more inclined to hunker down and stay in their current jobs rather than look around, he said. But in certain sectors Spherion serves, such as information technology, engineering and accounting and finance, demand is strong for new hires.

The Labor Department said Erie County recorded an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent in April, compared with 4.5 percent a year earlier. Niagara County’s jobless rate was 6.6 percent, up from 5.5 percent in April 2007.

Buffalo’s jobless rate was 6.1 percent, versus 5.7 percent a year ago. Niagara Falls’ jobless rate was 8 percent in April, up from 6.7 percent a year earlier.

Here are the unemployment rates for April, March and April 2007 for the other counties in Western New York:

• Allegany — 5.9 percent, 7.1 percent, 5.3 percent.

• Cattaraugus — 5.7, 6.7, 5.1.

• Chautauqua — 5.0, 5.8, 4.4.

• Genesee — 5.4, 6.6, 4.4.

• Orleans — 6.5, 7.6, 6.0.

• Wyoming — 5.8, 7.3, 5.0

mglynn@buffnews.com