The unemployment numbers for January have just been released, and one analyst says there is some cause for optimism when you look at the figures for the Rochester metropolitan area.
The unemployment rate for the Rochester area was 7 percent in January. That was up from 6.1 percent in December, but lower than the 8.7 percent rate of a year ago.
Overall, NYS Labor Analyst Tammy Marino says things are moving in the right direction. She says January tends to be this area's highest unemployment rate of the year, due to seasonal factors, but the numbers should improve soon.
"With the warmer weather we'll begin to see much more seasonal hiring as well as overall hiring in the local economy, so we will expect that unemployment rate to decline in the coming months."
The number of unemployed people in the Rochester area dropped about 10,000 in January compared to a year ago. But Marino says part of that may be due to people leaving the workforce, in some cases, due to retirement, and others may have just been discouraged about looking for a job.
Last week, the state said that the Rochester area saw a gain of 1900 private sector jobs in January compared to a year ago.
The statewide unemployment rate in January was 6.8 percent.
