Utica, NY (WIBX) - Some new figures coming from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a slight decrease in the number of unemployed and underemployed workers in the state. Martin Kohli, Regional Economist with the agency, says despite the slow economic recovery, New Yorkers are doing better than many other states.

"So, if you were suffering here there are places you probably will not want to go like California, Las Vegas, Arizona and perhaps many areas in Florida. These are all areas that really suffered during the bursting of the housing bubble and the housing market really has not recovered in a lot of areas yet," Kohli said. On the other hand, he says Washington, DC, Houston and Dallas have shown the most improvement.

Kohli says the bottom line is that the recovery has a ways to go before people are made whole from the recession. He said, "This is telling us that a lot of people are still suffering from the recession. The one thing that's a little bit of a bright news is that these numbers tend to be higher for the nation than they are for New York. And, that's a reflection of the fact that the recession basically hit harder nationally than it did in New York." He says the only sector that's seen a steady expansion is the healthcare industry.

Click HERE to view the full report from BLS.

More From WIBX 950