Construction, manufacturing, health care create jobs in WNY

It’s also good news for construction workers. And it’s helping to boost job growth in the region, as the sector added 800 jobs last year, reaching its highest level of employment in nearly 35 years.

The same is true for manufacturing, a sector that once seemed unlikely to grow. But the growth of high-tech and advanced manufacturing companies, along with the boom in warehousing, logistics and light manufacturing, is creating new job opportunities in Western New York — 400, to be exact, since June of last year.

Add to that health care and social services, a dose of wholesale trade and plenty of restaurants and beverages, and you have the makings of a solid improvement in the Buffalo Niagara region’s employment situation.

“The Buffalo Niagara metro area continues to slowly improve in nonfarm and private payrolls, as it has all year,” said Timothy Glass, regional economist at the New York State Department of Labor. “We are gradually getting back to where we were before the pandemic.”

Private sector employment in the Buffalo Niagara metropolitan area increased 1.3 percent in June from a year earlier, an increase of 6,300 positions, according to the latest state data.

Including government jobs, nonfarm employment increased even more sharply, by 1.6 percent, or 9,200 jobs, for a total of 567,900.

“It’s not surprising, given that public sector jobs have grown quite dramatically this year,” Glass said. The private sector “is just taking a little longer to come back.”

But it’s the construction and manufacturing sectors that stand out as “a bright spot,” he said, especially since both fields offer “good-paying jobs” with wages above the region’s median and average.

Construction hasn’t been this brisk since at least 1990, the earliest date current Labor Department statistics go back. And the stadium is a big part of that.

“These kinds of projects take a lot of manpower to build something like this,” Glass said. “It’s definitely part of the project, not just for the Buffalo Niagara metropolitan area, but for the entire region. It’s helped the region a lot.”

But it’s not just the stadium.

“There’s a constant need for construction workers in this area,” Glass said. “And that’s what’s driving the high numbers we’ve had.”

At the same time, manufacturing “has been strong across the board,” posting its best performance since 2008, he added. And that’s not just in advanced manufacturing, but also with “a lot of light factories and warehouses in the region.”

“Once again, companies are starting to realize that this is a key location, not only because it’s so close to Canada, but because we’re a good filter from the Northeast to the Midwest, through the north and southwest,” Glass said. “It’s just a good hub.”

The private education and health services sector is also “another strong sector that is finally coming back”, mainly driven by health care and social assistance, which created 3,400 additional jobs compared to last year.

“It’s a very important sector in this region, and it’s certainly a big need with the aging population,” Glass said.

Private elementary, secondary and university schools added another 500.

In contrast, the leisure and hospitality sector continues to lag. Although it added 1,400 jobs, or 2.4% growth, last year, Glass said he “expects that sector to come back stronger” now and surpass pre-pandemic levels. He attributed the problem to the low profit margins of many hotels and restaurants.

“It’s a very complicated situation,” he said. “They can’t bring back as many workers because of the higher costs of products, materials and so on. It’s really a balancing act, and they’re having a hard time doing it, and it shows in the numbers.”

Statewide, private-sector employment increased 1.3%, or 108,600, from June 2023, led by private education and health services. That’s slightly below the national increase of 1.5%. For the month, private-sector employment in the state increased 6,900, or 0.1%, from May to 8.38 million, while nonfarm payrolls increased 13,200.

The statewide unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%, with the rate outside New York City falling to 3.7% from 3.8% in May.