Unemployment in Oswego County continued to back down from recent highs, falling to 9.2% in October, according to the New York State Labor Department.

The jobless rate stood at 9.4% in September and had hit the 10% level earlier in the year.  A year ago, the jobless rate was just beginning to rise.  It stood at 6.6%.

From September to October, the state reports that 200 more county residents were at work.  Meantime, the number of people listed as unemployed stayed even at 5,600.

Statewide, the jobless rate rose a tenth of a point to 9%.

Oswego County’s rate is the third highest in Upstate New York, equalled by St. Lawrence County and exceeded only by Steuben County’s 9.4% jobless rate.  Five of the boroughs of New York City also have jobless rates equal to or higher than Oswego County’s.  At 13.4% unemployment, the Bronx has the state’s highest rate of joblessness.  The lowest jobless rate is in Ithaca, traditionally the place of lowest unemployment in the state, at 5.5%.

“While employers in New York State continued to cut jobs over the past year, they did so at a more modest pace than those in the nation as a whole. In addition, the state’s unemployment rate remained well below the nation’s rate in October 2009,” said Peter A. Neenan, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Research and Statistics in a news release.

So far this year, 966,000 state residents have taken unemployment benefits, with about half that number needing what’s called emeergency benefits after their 26 weeks of regular benefits have run out.  The number of people who took regular unemployment benefits is up about 50% from last year, while the number of people needing emergency benefits has more than tripled.

High School students from the Fulton, Phoenix, and Sandy Creek school districts were recently recognized for their work with the CYO Mentoring Program, a program of Catholic Charities of Oswego County.

Executive director of the chamber of commerce Beth Hilton presented Oswego Health with the Community Investor Award at the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce annual meeting.

Happy New Year to all of our readers in the tri-county region!
While our Richland facility is closed until April, the society is still active with Friday afternoon hours at the Barclay Court House in Pulaski (2nd floor over DMV, 2pm until 5) or by appointment. We got off to a rocky start following our [...]