NYS Unemployment Rate

Jesse Anderson

Patterns

            This map displays the unemployment rate for New York State in December 2011. The map illustrates the varying degrees of unemployment across the state based on color. The unemployment rate varies from as low as 5.5% in Tompkins County to as high as 12.4% in Bronx County. The first noticeable pattern on the map is that the unemployment rate is similar in many bordering counties and that the rate of unemployment is clustered around the state.  One example of this is in the northern portion of New York State. In this region the counties of Jefferson, Lewis, Franklin, Essex, and Clinton all have high unemployment rates ranging from 8.9% to 10.1%. Another grouping of similar unemployment rates is in the Hudson Valley. Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Washington County all have similar unemployment rates. The lowest being Saratoga County with 6.5%, and the highest being Ulster County with 7.8% unemployment. Also the unemployment rate for counties of the Finger Lakes region are all very close as well. Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Cayuga, and Onondaga County all have an unemployment rate of 7.1% to 7.7%. The outliers of this map which would be Tompkins County with an unemployment rate of 5.5%, the lowest in New York State, is located just south of the Finger Lakes region and is bordered by Schuyler, Chemung, Tioga, Broome, Cortland, Cayuga, and Seneca Counties. The unemployment rate in these surrounding counties ranges from 7.5% in Seneca County to as high as 8.6% in Cortland County. The other outlier in the map would be Bronx County with an unemployment rate of 12.4%. The counties bordering Bronx County are New York, Queens, Nassau, and Westchester County. The difference in unemployment between these counties and Bronx County is quite significant. Compared to Bronx Counties 12.4% the next closest would be Queens County with 7.9% unemployment.

Analysis

            There are some possible reasons for these patterns across New York State. The first factor could be education level. Bronx County has the highest unemployment level and in Bronx County the percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher is 17.6% according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared to the rest of the state which is at 32.1% for people with higher education Bronx County is significantly lower and this could be one factor of their high unemployment. In the other counties, such as Jefferson, where the unemployment was still somewhat high in comparison to other parts of New York State one factor could be the simple idea that there just aren’t enough jobs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Jefferson County has an estimated population of 116,229. Now not all of these people can be considered workers but the private nonfarm employment for Jefferson County is only 29,392. This huge difference in number of available jobs and the people who live in Jefferson County could be the root of the higher unemployment rate.

This data came from New York State’s Empire State Development website. The Empire State Development is a New York State Agency that involved in New York State’s economic development. The data was collected by the New York State Labor Force. This data was collected in December of 2011 and it contained information regarding employment, unemployment, and unemployment rate based on residence.