Cortland County Job Gains Outstanding in NYS

Cortland, NY -- 2001 labor market statistics from the New York State Department of Labor illustrate that Cortland County's job growth was among the best in New York State last year. Current NYS DOL statistics indicate that for the year to year period of November 2000 to November 2001, Cortland added 400 new jobs, reflecting a 2% job growth. The statistics make Cortland among the best performing counties in New York State for overall job growth.

Labor Market Statistics - - Most Recent Data For the Year 2001

Compiled by the Cortland County BDC/IDA
Source: New York State DOL http://www.labor.state.ny.us

County or MSA	Year to Year Job Loss or Gain	Percentage Loss or Gain
Cortland County	400 job gain	+ 2.0%
Binghamton MSA (Broome and Tioga Counties)	1,900 job loss	- 1.5%
Chenango County	100 job gain	+ 0.6%
Elmira MSA (Chemung County)	800 job loss	- 1.8%
Glen Falls MSA (Warren and Washington Counties)	700 job loss	- 1.4%
Jamestown MSA (Chautauqua County)	1,300 job loss	- 2.2%
Newburgh MSA (Orange County)	600 job loss	- 0.4%
Rochester MSA (Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans and Wayne Counties)	8,000 job loss	- 1.4%
Schuyler County	-- no change --	- 0% -
Sullivan County	600 job loss	- 2.3%
Steuben County	1,000 job loss	- 2.3%
Syracuse MSA (Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego Counties)	2,000 job loss	- 0.6%
Tompkins County	300 job gain	+ 0.5%
Ulster County	700 job loss	- 1.1%
Utica/Rome MSA (Herkimer and Oneida Counties)	400 job loss	- 0.3%
New York State	94,700 job loss	- 1.1%

"2001 was a turbulent year, with a slowing of the economy in the last two quarters, a volatile market environment, domestic terrorist attacks and international conflicts," noted BDC Executive Director Linda Hartsock. "Clearly, this took its toll on New York's economy, as evidenced across most geographic regions. But, Cortland proved remarkably resilient. In fact, over the last two difficult quarters, Cortland County held steady, consistently retaining a 400 year to year job creation lead, despite some temporary measures that local employers took to help them deal with the economic situation."

By sector, manufacturing in Cortland continued to react to the softening of the global economy, with both the durable and non durable goods producing sectors showing some signs of loss. Strongest job gains were in the services, wholesale and retail trade, and other sectors. "Among the job growth leaders was higher education, reflecting SUNY Cortland's strength as an economic engine for the County," added Hartsock. In addition, small businesses continued to grow, with SBA activity tripling from $2 million to more than $6 million in the past year, making Cortland the SBA leader for the entire Southern Tier Region.

"These trends are consistent with state and national trends. While the economy slowed in the last two quarters, Cortland's overall job growth in 2001 was at a pace that was healthier than most areas in the State. Like many other regions, we are also continuing to see the emergence of a service economy, with the fastest growing job sectors expected to be health and human services, government, public education, retail, and professional services. We are also seeing new business formation up here, consistent with a national trend which estimates that nearly 20% of the work force will be self-employed by 2010. The good news is that over a year to year period, Cortland outperformed most labor market areas in terms of overall growth indicators."