Unemployment rate in Buffalo Niagara falls as workforce shrinks

The region’s unemployment rate reached 4% last month, up from 3.9% in April, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor.

However, even with this slight increase, the region’s unemployment rate remained at its second lowest level on record since October.

Unemployment increased steadily in the region from April 2023 until February, when unemployment levels began to decline. An unemployment rate of 4% is quite low by local standards.

The rising unemployment rate is due, in large part, to more workers looking for work – and often finding them.

The region’s labor force — the total number of workers who are employed or actively looking for work but unable to find one — increased slightly from April to May, increasing by 1,500 people. This figure, however, is lower than the usual increase from April to May, when seasonal jobs begin to open up and students begin looking for jobs after returning from college. The local workforce, for example, increased by 4,000 people between April 2023 and May 2023.

And the labor force has declined about 4% over the past year, leaving the region with about 2,400 fewer available workers than a year ago.

Most workers who began their job search in May were successful in finding employment. The number of people employed increased by 1,000 between April and May, although it remains more than 1% below levels a year ago.

“Resident employment didn’t seem that interesting to me,” said Julie Anna Golebiewski, an economist at Canisius University. “But we’re still at a pretty high employment level.”

A separate report released last week by the Labor Department showed that hiring slowed in May as the region shed 900 jobs from April to May, partly reversing a series of steady, moderate job growth during the last year. Even with May’s decline, the region still has nearly 2% more jobs than a year ago.

With hiring slowing in May, there was also a slight increase in the number of unemployed – people who are actively looking for work but cannot find one. The region had 500 more unemployed workers last month than in April, and 3,400 more than a year ago, when the local job market was at its tightest point.

Yet there is little sign that rising unemployment has been accompanied by increased job cuts at local businesses.

The number of workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time in mid-June fell to its lowest level since September, according to Labor Department data. The four-week moving average of weekly jobless claims, which is less volatile than the weekly data, is at its lowest level since mid-October.