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June Jobless Rate Falls To 5.8 Percent In The Rochester Metro

 Downtown Rochester skyline view.
Max Schulte
/
WXXI News
Downtown Rochester skyline view.

The unemployment rate fell in June in the Rochester area to 5.8  percent. That was the same as it was in May, but down from 7.1 percent in June of a year ago.

State labor analyst Tammy Marino says this has been a trend of slow, steady improvement in recent years.

"Looking back over the past four years employers have been creating new jobs on a very consistent basis so as a result the local unemployment rate fell to its lowest June level since 2008."

Marino did note that one reason for the unemployment rate dropping is that the size of the local labor force is shrinking. That is partly due to people who became discouraged looking for work several years ago and did not return to the labor force, as well as the aging of the population with more baby boomers retiring.

The NYS Labor Department noted last week that private sector jobs in the Rochester metro area grew by 3,000 in June compared to a year ago. Many of those gains came in education and health care.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.