Region’s jobless rate continues to improve

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

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Unemployment fell across the region and state in June.

The Capital Region’s unemployment rate fell 1.4 percentage points, from 6.5 percent in June 2013 to 5.1 percent last month, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor. The only other upstate region with a lower rate was again the Ivy League metro of Ithaca, at 4.5 percent.

Saratoga County tied with Tompkins County for the second-lowest unemployment rate among counties last month at 4.5 percent, after Hamilton County’s 4.2 percent rate. This was a 1.3 percentage point drop for Saratoga County from last June’s 5.8 percent rate.

Unemployment fell 1.4 percentage points in Albany County over this period, to 5.1 percent, and 1.7 percentage points in Schenectady County, to 5.4 percent. In Schoharie County, unemployment fell from 7.9 percent to 6.5 percent.

The largest unemployment drops were in the rural Capital Region counties of Fulton and Montgomery counties. Fulton County unemployment dropped 2 percentage points to 6.8 percent. Montgomery County unemployment dropped 2.1 percentage points to 6.8 percent.

The state’s unemployment rate fell 1.3 percentage points over this time to 6.5 percent. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.6 percent was the lowest since November 2008.