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Orleans has 1,000 fewer people working compared to a year ago

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 December 2020 at 10:15 am

Unemployment rate continues to go down from pandemic high

The latest data from state Department of Labor shows the number of people working in Orleans County is down by 1,000 people from a year ago, when there wasn’t a Covid-19 wreaking havoc on the economy.

The DOL reported there were 15,800 people working in Orleans County in November, down from 16,800 in November 2019. The county’s unemployment rate last month was 5.4 percent, compared to 4.4 percent the previous November.

Here are the unemployment rates and number of unemployed in the Orleans County during the pandemic:

  • March: 5.4 percent, 900 unemployed
  • April: 15.9 percent, 2,700 unemployed
  • May: 11.5 percent, 1,900 unemployed
  • June: 10.8 percent, 1,900 unemployed
  • July: 12.7 percent, 2,300 unemployed
  • August: 9.8 percent, 1,700 unemployed
  • September: 5.5 percent, 900 unemployed
  • October: 6.0 percent, 1,000 unemployed
  • November: 5.4 percent, 900 unemployed

Nationally the number of people working is down by 8.7 million, from 158.9 million in November 2019 to 150.2 million last month. In New York, the number of people employed shrunk by 790,000 in the 12 months, down from 9.15 million to 8.36 million.

The Rochester metro has 30,000 fewer workers, down from 500,100 to 470,000, while the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro is down by 19,500 workers — from 517,300 to 497,700.

The employment data for other nearby counties (with November 2019 in parentheses) and the change in the number of people working:

  • Erie, 5.9 percent (4.2) – Decline from 423,200 working to 407,300
  • Genesee, 4.6 percent (3.8) – Workers down from 28,400 to 27,000
  • Livingston, 5.6 percent (3.9) – Decline from 29,500 to 27,700
  • Monroe, 6.0 percent (4.0) – Down from 346,900 working to 326,100
  • Niagara, 6.0 percent (4.7) – Decline from 94,100 employed to 90,500
  • Ontario, 4.6 percent (3.6) – Down from 53,300 working to 50,100
  • Orleans, 5.4 percent (4.4) – Down from 16,800 workers to 15,800
  • Wyoming, 4.7 percent (4.0) – Decline from 17,100 to 16,400

New York City is suffering the highest unemployment rates — 16.0 percent in Bronx, 12.1 percent in Kings (Brooklyn), 9.3 percent in New York County (Manhattan) Richmond (Staten Island), 9.8 percent and Queens, 11.6 percent.

Tompkins and Columbia counties have the lowest rates at 4.0 percent.