County's employment picture shows continued improvement
Submitted by Howard Owens on April 21, 2011 - 1:24pm
Genesee County's jobs picture continues to improve, as the rate of unemployed residents has declined and some 200 new jobs were created in the county in March.
Data released from the State Department of Labor shows the unemployment rate for March in Genesee County at 8 percent, down from 9 percent in March 2010.
There are 2,800 job seekers in Genesee County, down 100 from February.
Meanwhile, 100 new "goods producing" jobs were created in Genesee County, March compared to February. The number moved up from 3,600 to 3,700.
Government jobs also grew by 100 new positions, growing month-over-month from 6,200 to 6,300. That's the same number of government jobs in the county a year ago.
Other sectors of job creation remained steady.
There are now 22,300 non-farm jobs in Genesee County, compared to 22,100 in February and 21,900 in March 2010.
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April 21, 2011 - 1:34pm
#2
Government jobs also grew by 100 new positions, growing month-over-month from 6,200 to 6,300...Thats great,how do we pay for those jobs...Taxes thats how...
April 21, 2011 - 2:15pm
#3
In the State of the County address on Jan 26, 2011, Mary Pat Hancock said "We can certainly take pride in what has been accomplished by our departments. They were able to provide most of the same services in spite of a reduced work force and increased work loads and they did it with a smile. "
So now the workforce is back UP to what it was last year at this time ?
April 21, 2011 - 2:32pm
#4
Irene, County government isn't the only government agency that employs people.
There's the schools, city, villages, towns, college and most significantly the federal detention facility, along with others.
April 21, 2011 - 2:59pm
#5
I am so tired of hearing this. This is not the case in Batavia. The only way you get a job here is through a temp service and you have no shot of getting on full time. My girlfriend has been on unemployment for a year now and has put applications in all over this town. Aside from being badmouthed by her former employer not helping, she has 15 years in the food business and can`t get a job that will give you any hours. The temp service placed her at a factory here in town a couple months ago. The boss loved her work and she was orientated to be hired full time. A week later the job was done and I believe it is because of the union not wanting new people getting hired and into the union quicker than they had to. She was hired there to do rework which is a mistake that has to be fixed by the temps. When the rework is done, so are the temps. She got called back there this week to do some more rework!! This factory uses these temp people to fix the great union workers mistakes and has no intention of hiring anyone full time because of benefits and such. That is the problem now because no one wants to give full time because they do not want to offer the benefit packages. Meanwhile, a 15 hour a week minimum wage job that someone is forced to take to not lose their unemployment is considered as getting someone back to work. It is a joke!
April 21, 2011 - 3:35pm
#6
I would like to know where all these jobs are also. I have been looking since before I finished my degree, signed up with three temporary agencies and applying for anything the my Degree in Human Services would qualify me for to retail work. I can't even get a phone call for an interview for a part time job. Now that my unemployment has run out and living off my IRA's I am wondering if we are going to loose are home that we worked on for years. Perhaps if someone can lead me to these rocks that these jobs are hiding under I could apply for them.
April 21, 2011 - 4:30pm
#7
H.O, weren't these same figures released a few weeks ago?
April 21, 2011 - 4:35pm
#8
Howard, What is the Dept of Labor's definition of a "job seeker"?
April 21, 2011 - 5:52pm
#9
its not what you know, its who you know to get a full time job. nothing new with that.politicians lie so much who do you beleave? i dont beleave any of them.
April 21, 2011 - 6:48pm
#10
Bob, no. The last story I did on this topic was for February's job numbers. This is for March.
Dave, "job seeker" isn't a DOL term as far as I know. It's a term I used for the column labeled "unemployed."
April 21, 2011 - 7:36pm
#11
Howard; basically, I was curious if they are referring to people drawing unemployment or did that also cover people not drawing unemployment as well
April 21, 2011 - 11:02pm
#12
The 2010 Census says the genesse county lost population..But we continue to grow government jobs..This to me would be a negative thing and not positive ..To hire more government workers takes more tax dollars to pay them...6300 government workers for a population of 57,000 people seems like over kill to me..
April 21, 2011 - 11:25pm
#13
You also have to remember that DOL doesnt count "99 weekers" as unemployed.. They basically were shoved under a rock and forgotten. "unemployed" are only those actually collecting that check everyweek from DOL. Last i knew the facts and figures (right from DOL) were pretty high IF you counted 99 weekers who have ran out of benefits, only they wont count that because its the reality.. and that makes it look even worse.
April 22, 2011 - 5:26am
#14
Mark, just a point of clarification. It's not 6,300 government jobs for a population of 57,000. It's a population of a couple of million.
For example, the anecdotal information I have is most of the federal prison employees live in Erie County.
And, of course, a lot of our 57,000 residents work in Monroe or Erie counties.
The jobs figure represents how many jobs are in Genesee County. The unemployment figure represents how many people who live in Genesee County are out of work regardless of what counties they might be trying to find a job in.
April 22, 2011 - 1:16pm
#15
Howard point is that there are 6300 government jobs in genesse county..Who says that these jobs are all created at the federal prison..Its the growth of government jobs that is the problem..It doesn't matter where these government workers live but that they are in this county ...Why do we need so many government employees..I though all these school districts were cutting jobs..Where is this growth in government jobs coming from..And i would think that the 6300 jobs are to service genesse county with a population of 57000...
April 22, 2011 - 1:38pm
#16
We've covered this before -- we know the prison and GCC are growing. County government's not creating jobs, the city isn't, the towns and villages aren't -- I don't have as much contact with the school districts, but I don't think they're hiring.
On a more universal level, I agree with you that we don't need more government jobs, but I was responding more to your point previously that a population of 57,000 can't sustain 6,300 government jobs -- but it's not a population of 57,000 ... the government jobs are drawing from a pool of a couple of million of WNY residents.
And at least if they're employed in GC, they're spending at least a portion of their paychecks here.
April 23, 2011 - 11:00am
#17
I usually pay no attention to stats released by those who benefit the most. Statistics are much like computers, garbage in, garbage out.
