Orleans unemployment rate at 3.4% in December, up slightly from a year ago

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 January 2023 at 6:47 pm

The unemployment rate in Orleans County was 3.4 percent in December, one of the lowest rates on record in the county but up slightly from the 3.2 percent in December 2021.

In Orleans there were 16,400 people working in December 2022, compared to 16,300 in December 2021, according to the state Department of Labor. The number of people on unemployment was up from 500 to 600 during those 12 months, according to DOL data.

Other nearby unemployment rates from December 2022 include Genesee at 2.9%, Erie at 3.2%, Livingston at 2.9%, Monroe at 2.9%, Niagara at 3.5% and Wyoming at 3.3%.

Statewide the rate was 3.8 percent (down from 4.5 percent in December 2021) and nationally it was at 3.3 percent (down from 3.7 percent in December 2021).

The unemployment rate in Orleans is edging up after reaching a record low of 2.5 percent in October 2022. It was then 3.0 percent in November 2022.

Before 2022, the county’s unemployment rate has only dipped below 4 percent a few times in the past three decades:

During 1990s, Orleans was below 4 percent twice – 3.8 percent in September 1999 and 3.9 percent in October 1999.
From 2000 to 2009, the rate dipped below 4 percent twice – 3.8 percent in September 2000 and 3.6 percent in October 2000.
From 2010 to 2019, the unemployment rate was below 4 percent five times – 3.5 percent in September and October 2018, 3.7 percent in November 2018, 3.7 percent in September 2019, and 3.8 percent in October 2019.

Then in 2021, the rate only dropped below 4 percent with 3.8 percent in November and then 3.2 percent in December.

During the pandemic, the unemployment rate hit a high of 16.8 percent in April 2020.