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Upstate job report a mixed bag Service sector up, but manufacturing drops
BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter

    Upstate’s labor market is no longer sinking after being buoyed primarily by job growth in the Albany, Glens Falls and Ithaca metropolitan areas.
    Reversing a decade of job losses, upstate has seen an upswing in jobs since 2004, and it is poised to add 20,000 new jobs to its ranks by year’s end, according to a report released Tuesday by the Buffalo branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.
    The Fed report details the transformation of upstate’s labor market, which once heavily rested in the manufacturing sector. Between 2000 and 2006, upstate lost 85,000 manufacturing jobs.
    But job losses in manufacturing, transportation and utilities were offset by gains in four growth sectors that account for 40 percent of upstate’s employment. Those sectors include financial services, professional and business services, education and health services plus leisure and hospitality services.
    Upstate’s gains reported by the Fed drew little applause from the Business Council of New York State. The Albany trade organization is especially concerned over how wealth-generating jobs in the manufacturing and transportation sectors are being replaced in upstate with jobs that are significantly subsidized by the government, such as those in the education and health care sectors.
    Upstate’s job growth is also far behind that of downstate and the nation, said Business Council spokesman Matthew Maguire.
    The Fed said upstate’s private sector employment peaked in 2000, when it accounted for 80 percent of the region’s jobs. Over the following three years, the private sector declined 2.5 percent. Upstate’s labor market then turned the corner and expanded by 1.2 percent between 2003 and 2006, growing at an average 0.4 percent annual rate. That rate might climb to 0.5 percent for 2007.
    Although the manufacturing sector continues to bleed jobs, the Fed warned that one of the greatest threats to upstate’s work force could come from the housing slump and its impact on the construction and financial sectors.
    “Looking ahead, we caution that one downside risk to this forecast is a weaker-than-expected housing sector that would impact the upstate housing market and take a toll on upstate residential construction,” the report states.
    The Capital Region’s job has been “modest but sustained since 2000,” the Fed said. Its labor market has been buoyed partly by the government sector and others associated with its research centers and nanotechnology clusters, such as education services and technical services.
    Between 2000 and 2005, the Albany area’s average annual job growth was 0.75. It slipped to 0.67 between 2005 and 2006, and again to 0.4 percent between the fi rst nine months of 2006 and the same period of this year, according to the Fed.

Hey, there are jobs a-plenty. We can get some great jobs at Walmart, Target, the Dollar Stores, any stores at all of the malls, a bartender/maid at the establishments on State Street and possibly an usher at the theater.

As far as good paying jobs.....it's a thing of the past. OH, unless you want to be a cop or state worker! Ya know, the jobs that suck the blood and guts out of us taxpayers

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The Capital Region’s job has been “modest but sustained since 2000,” the Fed said. Its labor market has been buoyed partly by the government sector and others associated with its research centers and nanotechnology clusters, such as education services and technical services.

I'm glad to see Metroplex is going along with the upstate trend by funding service oriented businesses downtown.  

I'm curious to see how the Federal Reserve Bank categorizes "private sector" businesses that wouldn't exist without public funded subsidies?  Ya know,,, like the ones opened in Schenectady during the Metroplex tenure.  The Fed should track subsidized private sector.