Unemployment rate falls below 5% in Orleans for first time in pandemic

The unemployment rate in Orleans County is at 4.3 percent, based on the latest data from the State Department of Labor.

That is the first time the county’s rate has dropped below 5 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic which started in March 2020. It peaked at 16.8 percent in April 2020. This year it’s been as high as 7.6 percent in February.

The rate is down from 5.7 percent in July and 5.6 percent in August to 4.3 percent in September.

The 4.3 percent compares to 5.6 percent a year earlier in September 2020. Orleans has about 500 more people working, from 16,000 to 16,500, with the number on unemployment down from 1,000 to 700 from September 2020 to the same month in 2021, according to the state DOL.

Nationally the unemployment rate is down from 7.7 percent in September 2020 to 4.6 percent this September with 6.23 million more people working, from 147.8 million to 154.0 million.

In New York, the unemployment rate is down from 9.9 percent in September 2020 to 6.3 percent in September 2021, with 282,100 more people working in the state (from 8.38 million to 8.67 million).

Bronx has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 12.4 percent and Yates County is the lowest at 3.2 percent.

Nearby unemployment rates for September include:

• Niagara, 4.8
• Genesee, 3.7
• Livingston, 3.6
• Wyoming, 3.6
• Monroe, 4.7
• Erie, 4.7