All Over Albany

The Capital Region's unemployment rate continues to drop

The Capital Region labor force since 2000. Here's a bigger version.

The Capital Region's unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in September -- one of the lowest rates of any metro in the state -- according to figures out this week from the state Department of Labor. And it was down from 6.1 percent in September 2013.*

New York State's unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in September, down from 7.4 percent the year before. And the upstate unemployment rate was 5.5 percent, down from 6.9 percent the year before.

The numbers for September continue a trend for the Capital Region in which each month's unemployment rate has been lower than that same month the year before, dating back to 2012 November.

And a falling unemployment rate is generally a good thing. But there's another trend also in progress: The reported size of the Capital Region's labor force continues to drop. And this past September was another example of the unemployment rate being lower than the year before even as there were also fewer people with jobs.

The factors behind the size of the labor force -- the number of people with jobs, or actively looking for one -- are mix of the economic and demographic, and as we heard from a labor analyst a few months back, they're hard to pull apart.

There's some chartage above in large format based on these numbers.

* This is the part where we mention these numbers aren't seasonally adjusted so the best comparison for a month's rate is the same month in previous years. Also, the "Capital Region" in this case means the four core counties + Schoharie.