George E. Pataki, Governor January 2005

N

Linda Angello, Commissioner

numbers in thousands)

Change in Nonfarm JobsNov. 2003 - Nov. 2004

(Data not seasonally adjusted,

At a Glance

%IN NOVEMBER... Net

Continued on page 3

Industry and Occupational Analysis (Part 1)

...NYS private sector jobs increased

...NYS unemployment decreased

...NYS unemployment rate decreased

Seasonally adjusted

Seasonally adjusted

Percent

...NYS labor force participation up

Employment-Population

Ratio

Total Nonfarm Jobs 53.1 0.6

Private Sector 58.3 0.8

Goods-Producing -9.5 -1.0

Nat. res. & mining 0.1 1.8

Construction 7.1 2.1

Manufacturing -16.7 -2.7

Durable gds. -5.8 -1.7

Nondurable gds. -10.9 -4.1

Service-providing 62.6 0.8

Trade, trans., & util. 2.8 0.2

Wholesale trade -3.7 -1.0

Retail trade 5.6 0.6

Trans., wrhs., & util. 0.9 0.3

Information -1.0 -0.4

Financial activities 5.1 0.7

Prof. & bus. svcs. 22.4 2.1

Educ. & health svcs. 23.6 1.5

Leisure & hospitality 11.6 1.8

Other services 3.3 0.9

Government -5.2 -0.3

Seasonally adjusted

In 000s

In 000s TotalUnemployment

Seasonally adjusted

Number ofPrivate Sector Jobs

UnemploymentRates

Information Technology inNew York State

Percent

In November 2004, New York’s season-ally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.9percent, down from 5.2 percent in Octo-ber. (The nation’s unemployment rate was5.4 percent in November.) In November2004, the state had 8,469,500 nonfarmjobs, including 6,989,700 private sectorjobs, after seasonal adjustment. The num-ber of private sector jobs in the stateincreased by 0.1 percent from October.(The nation’s private sector job count alsochanged by 0.1 percent over the month.)From November 2003 to November 2004,the number of private sector jobs increasedby 0.8 percent in the state and increased by1.7 percent in the nation (not seasonallyadjusted). In addition, New York's employ-ment-population ratio, a measure of laborforce participation, went up in November.

ew York’s dynamic infor-mation technology (IT) sec-tor can be defined twoways. On one hand, there

are a wide range of IT-producing indus-tries that encompass a multitude ofoccupations, from secretary to systemsanalyst. On the other hand, there are awide range of occupations classified asIT, which occur in every industrial clas-sification in the economy – not just inIT-producing industries – such as com-puter programmer. Here, in the first ofa two-part series, we examine NewYork’s IT sector from both perspectives,using the U.S. Department ofCommerce's “Digital Economy 2003”report as our starting point.

IT-Producing IndustriesIn 2003, New York’s IT-producing sec-

tor involved almost 17,000 firms, morethan 230,000 jobs, and over $17 billionin wages. The state has 43 IT-producingindustries spread across four main groups:Communications Equipment, Communi-cations Services, Computer Hardware,and Software and Computer Services. Inaddition to IT-related titles, workers in IT-producing industries cover a broad rangeof non-IT job titles, such as managementand office and administrative support.

Employment in the state’s IT-producingsector, like the nation’s, has been muchmore volatile than overall employmentover the past decade. From 1993 to 2000,

Focus on the North CountryEMPLOYMENT IN NEW YORK STATE

Retailing Leads Regionby Alan Beideck, Labor Market Analyst, North Country

2

T

continued on page 3

Skill Level: High

Computer and information systems managers

Engineering managers

Computer and information scientists, research

Computer programmers

Computer software engineers, applications

Computer software engineers, systems software

Computer support specialists

Computer systems analysts

Database administrators

Network and computer systems administrators

Network systems and data communications analysts

Computer hardware engineers

Electrical engineers

Electronics engineers, except computer

Electrical and electronic engineering technicians

he private sector job count in theseven-county North Country re-gion rose over the year by 1,400,

“The North Country area ispoised for job growth with the

planned expansion of suchbusinesses as Wal-Mart andWiseBuys. The area will alsobenefit from the expansion of

Fort Drum and the large housinginitiative there. The Department

of Labor is prepared to assistboth businesses and jobseekers

with all of their needs.”

David Wallingford, RegionalAdministrator, Capital/Northern Region

or 1.2 percent, to 115,100 in November2004. The largest gains were registered inretail trade, educational and health ser-vices, leisure and hospitality, and profes-sional and business services. Manufacturingwas the only private sector industry toexperience any appreciable job loss overthe year. Looking ahead, the plannedexpansion of the Fort Drum military basenear Watertown (Jefferson County) shouldboost employment prospects for a varietyof local industries including retail trade,other service industries and construction.

Retail trade has been an importantsource of job growth in the North Coun-try. Between November 2003 and No-vember 2004, retail employment increasedby 1,100, or 5.3 percent, to 21,900. Italso occupies an important place in theregion’s economy, accounting for nearly20 percent of private sector jobs.

Much of the retail growth in the past twoyears has been due to the opening ofseveral “big-box” stores. Two sportinggoods chains, Gander Mountain and Dick’s,opened stores in both Watertown andPlattsburgh. Home Depot opened a storein Watertown. Local department store

chain WiseBuys, which helped to fill a voidleft by the closing of the Ames departmentstore chain, opened stores in Tupper Lake,Gouverneur and Canton.

Wal-Mart proposed new stores in anumber of municipalities throughout theregion including Malone, Potsdam,Lowville and LeRay. The combined em-

ployment of these proposed stores isexpected to be in the 1,500-2,000 range.In addition, hundreds of temporary con-struction workers will be required to buildthese stores.

Educational and health services em-ployment extended its long, upwardgrowth trend, adding 600 jobs over theyear, to stand at 28,700 in November2004. Plattsburgh-based Champlain Val-ley Physicians Hospital launched an open-heart surgery unit, as well as a step-downunit for patients who do not requireintensive care but still need constantmonitoring. The Alice Hyde Medical Cen-ter in Malone and the North CountryChildren’s Clinic in Watertown also ex-panded. Mountain Medical Servicesopened urgent care facilities in bothSaranac Lake and Lake Placid.The leisure and hospitality sector suf-

fered from a wet, rainy summer, show-ing only modest employment gains. In2005, leisure and hospitality will get aboost from the opening of the White-face Lodge, a luxury resort hotel, inLake Placid.

Employment in the region’s profes-sional and business services sector wasbolstered by expansions at both Stream

IT-Related Occupations,by Education and Training Intensity

Skill Level: Moderate

Data-entry keyers

Computer, automated teller and office machine repairers

Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, exc. line installers

Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment

Electrical power-line installers and repairers

Telecommunications line installers and repairers

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

Electromechanical equipment assemblers

Semiconductor processors

Skill Level: Low

Communications equipment operators

Billing and posting clerks and machine operators

Computer operators

Other office machine operators, exc. computer

EMPLOYMENT IN NEW YORK STATE

Information Technology... from page 1

Unemployment Rates in New York StateData Not Seasonally Adjusted

3

Employment in New York State

is published 12 times a year. For achange of address, write to the Publica-tions Unit at the address below andprovide your old as well as new address.

Division of Research and StatisticsNew York State Department of LaborBuilding 12, State CampusAlbany, N.Y. 12240

North Country.. from page 2

NOV’04

NOV’03

NOV’04

NOV’03

NOV’04

NOV’03

Director David J. TrzaskosEditor Kevin JackDirector of Communications Robert LillpoppGraphic Design Kim HardinEditorial Advisor Christine Perham

by Kevin Jack

International’s call center in Watertownand Pipeline Data’s call center in BrasherFalls in St. Lawrence County. Streamhired about 200 workers to take callsrelated to the year-end “holiday rush” andto fulfill contracts from two new clients.

The expansion of Fort Drum from two tothree brigades will add at least severalthousand soldiers. This should provide asignificant boost to the North Countryeconomy. Published estimates put the totalannual economic impact of the expansionon the area at $160 million. Additionally,Fort Drum's Residential Communities Ini-tiative calls for the construction of over 700new homes with total project funding of$249 million. It should bring many con-struction jobs to the area over the next fewyears. To capitalize on the projected in-crease in area spending, the Jefferson-Lewis Workforce Investment Board hasmade entrepreneurship one of the corner-stones of their latest strategic plan.

Manufacturing was the only sector tolose many jobs over the year; dropping by700 to 15,300 in November 2004. Theselosses occurred at a variety of manufac-turers and stemmed from both permanentand temporary layoffs and from closings.

In summary, the North Country’seconomy showed significant improvementin 2004. While manufacturing declined,retail trade was very strong. Looking ahead,the economy is expected to show furthergains as construction gets a boost from thehousing project at Fort Drum and retailtrade continues its rapid expansion.

New York State 6.2 4.8Capital District 3.9 3.6Albany 3.5 3.2Columbia 3.4 2.9Greene 5.1 4.8Rensselaer 4.3 3.8Saratoga 3.6 3.3Schenectady 3.8 3.6Warren 5.9 5.5Washington 4.3 4.9Central New York 6.0 5.3Cayuga 6.2 5.3Cortland 7.6 7.1Onondaga 5.2 4.6Oswego 8.6 7.4Finger Lakes 5.8 5.0Genesee 7.1 6.3Livingston 6.1 5.0Monroe 5.5 4.7Ontario 5.4 5.2Orleans 7.1 5.8Seneca 5.8 4.8Wayne 6.7 6.0Wyoming 6.9 5.6Yates 3.9 3.6

Hudson Valley 4.2 3.7Dutchess 3.7 3.5Orange 4.8 4.3Putnam 3.3 3.0Rockland 4.4 3.4Sullivan 5.7 5.3Ulster 4.5 4.2Westchester 4.0 3.5Mohawk Valley 5.6 4.6Fulton 5.9 4.9Herkimer 5.6 5.7Madison 6.4 5.3Montgomery 6.3 5.0Oneida 5.4 4.1Schoharie 4.5 4.1North Country 7.5 6.7Clinton 6.3 5.5Essex 5.8 6.1Franklin 7.1 6.0Hamilton 8.1 7.8Jefferson 8.7 7.8Lewis 8.0 7.1St. Lawrence 8.2 7.0

Southern Tier 5.6 4.5Broome 5.6 4.5Chemung 6.7 5.0Chenango 6.4 5.0Delaware 4.4 3.8Otsego 4.4 3.9Schuyler 7.3 6.1Steuben 8.0 6.0Tioga 5.6 4.4Tompkins 3.4 3.0Western New York 6.6 5.7Allegany 8.2 6.5Cattaraugus 7.8 6.3Chautauqua 6.6 5.3Erie 6.2 5.6Niagara 7.6 6.0Long Island 4.1 3.6Nassau 3.8 3.4Suffolk 4.3 3.8New York City 8.1 5.4Bronx 10.6 7.2Kings 8.8 6.0New York 7.8 5.2Queens 6.4 4.4Richmond 7.5 4.7

IT employment in the state grew 35 per-cent, or more than three times faster thanoverall employment.

However, this trend reversed itselfbetween 2000 and 2003, a period whichspans the World Trade Center disaster,the bursting of the "dot com" bubble, thenational recession of 2001, and the sub-sequent jobless recovery, which lasteduntil the third quarter of 2003 in both theU.S. and New York State. IT employ-ment in the state fell 23 percent, com-pared with a drop of just 3 percent foroverall employment. In New York State,both the IT sector’s rapid expansion andsubsequent contraction were primarilydriven by employment changes in Soft-ware and Computer Services.

IT-Related OccupationsNew York State has more than 360,000

workers in IT-related occupations (see tableon facing page) across all industries, withan average overall wage of $57,400.These workers “develop, design, manu-facture, operate, maintain, and repair ITproducts and provide related services,"according to “Digital Economy 2003.”

IT job titles may be categorized intothree broad skill levels—High, Moderate,and Low—based on education and train-ing requirements. High-skill occupationsrequire an associates degree or higher andaccount for more than one-half of all IT-related jobs. This is in contrast to alloccupations as a whole, where less-skilledjobs are more prevalent. The averagewage for jobs in the High category is

$73,300. Computer programmers, com-puter support specialists, and computersystems analysts are the most commontitles in this group.

Moderate-skill jobs comprise about one-quarter of IT jobs and require long-term on-the-job training or post-secondary vocationaltraining. Their average wage is $38,300.Data-entry keyers have, by far, the highestemployment among titles in this group.

Workers in the Low-skill category, whocomprise 18 percent of the IT workforce,have an average salary of $30,100. Thesetitles require short-to-moderate-term on-the-job training. Billing and posting clerksand machine operators account for almosthalf of all employment in this category.(Editor’s note: In our next issue, weconclude our analysis of New York'sIT sector.)

State of New YorkDepartment of Labor

Division of Research and StatisticsW. Averell Harriman Office Building

CampusAlbany, New York 12240

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

FIRST-CLASS MAILPOSTAGE & FEES PAIDEmployment Security

Permit No. G-12

EMPLOYMENT IN NEW YORK STATE

REGIONAL ANALYSTS’ CORNERhttp://64.106.160.140:8080/lmi/index.html

RS-2

FINGER LAKESWILLIAM RAMAGE

585-258-8870The private sector jobcount in the Rochesterarea declined over theyear by 2,700, or 0.6percent, to 449,100in November 2004. Gains in educationaland health services(+1,900), professionaland business services(+500) and financialactivities (+400) weremore than offset by de-clines in manufacturing(-4,400) and leisure andhospitality (-700).

NORTH COUNTRYALAN BEIDECK 518-891-6680

Private sector employment in the North Country region increasedover the year by 1,400, or 1.2 percent, to 115,100 in November2004. Gains were largest in trade, transportation and utilities(+1,100) and educational and health services (+600). Losses werecentered in manufacturing (-700).

SOUTHERN TIERJOSEPH KOZLOWSKI 607-741-4485

Private sector jobs in the region fell by 400, or 0.2 percent, to255,300 over the 12-month period ending November 2004.Gains in professional and business services (+300) wereoutpaced by losses in financial activities (-400) and smallerdeclines in several other industries.

MOHAWK VALLEYMARK BARBANO315-793-2282

In November the private sectorjob count in the Utica-Rome areawas 101,200, unchanged froma year earlier. Gains in educa-tional and health services (+400)were offset by declines in profes-sional and business services(-200) and smaller declines inother industries. Government(+500) was up due to expansionat the Oneida Indian Nation’sTurning Stone Casino. This in-crease led to the highest No-vember total nonfarm jobcount since 2001.

WESTERN NYJOHN SLENKER716-851-2742

The Buffalo-Niagara Falls area’sprivate sector job count de-creased by 3,200, or 0.7 per-cent, to 453,700 over the 12months ending November2004. Gains in financial activi-ties (+200) were offset by lossesin manufacturing (-1,900),trade, transportation and utili-ties (-600), natural resources,mining and construction (-300)and other services (-300).

CAPITAL DISTRICTJAMES ROSS

518-462-7600From November 2003 to November 2004, thenumber of private sector jobs in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area increased by 4,400, or1.2 percent, to 357,900, a record high for themonth. Job gains were greatest in educationaland health services (+1,700), financial activities(+800), other services (+500), professional andbusiness services (+500), information (+400), andnatural resources, mining and construction (+400).

HUDSON VALLEYSEAN MacDONALD

914-997-8798Over the 12 months ending November2004, private sector employment in theHudson Valley increased 13,200, or 1.8percent, to 761,000, a record high for themonth. Top job gainers included trade,transportation and utilities (+4,000), edu-cational and health services (+3,200), pro-fessional and business services (+2,000),leisure and hospitality (+1,700), and finan-cial activities (+1,200). Manufacturing(-800) lost jobs over the year.

CENTRAL NYROGER EVANS315-479-3388

Over the year, the Syra-cuse area added 2,900private sector jobs tostand at 288,600 inNovember. Job growthwas strongest in educa-tional and health services(+1,200), professionaland business services(+1,100), and leisure andhospitality (+1,000).Manufacturing (-1,400)lost jobs over the year.

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NEW YORK CITYJAMES BROWN 212-621-9353

New York City’s private sector continues to expand, growing by 1.2percent for the 12 months ending in November 2004. The professionaland business services and leisure and hospitality sectors led the growth. TheCity’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent inNovember, its lowest level since March 2001.

LONG ISLANDGARY HUTH 516-934-8533

Private sector employment on Long Islandincreased over the year by 11,100 to1,053,100 in November, a record high forthe month. Job gains were led by educa-tional and health services (+4,100), profes-sional and business services (+3,200),leisure and hospitality (+1,600) and trade,transportation and utilities (+1,400). Manu-facturing (-600) lost jobs over the year.