While the state of New York has regained nearly 95 percent of the jobs it lost during the recession, some of its more isolated regions have lagged behind, notably the Binghamton, Elmira, and Ithaca areas. Located in upstate New York, the multiple college metro area of Ithaca is located along the shores of Cayuga Lake and is best known for being the home of the Ivy League Cornell University.
Ithaca is the county seat of Tompkins County, which has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, at 5.7 percent. Yet the city and surrounding areas, combining for a total population of just over 101,000, continue to lose jobs. Between April 2011 and April 2012, the metro saw employment fall by 3,800 jobs. That’s a 5.6 percent plunge in employee nonfarm payroll jobs, the second-largest drop among major US metros.
Some local development officials charge that the federal figures are skewed and that there is nowhere near that level of job loss. Metro Ithaca has been fortunate, barely seeing a drop in employment during the depths of the recession. It’s only in the past 12 months that employment has begun to fall appreciably.
