Survey Shows City of Rome with Lowest Unemployment Rate Upstate

The city of Rome has the lowest unemployment score among the 20 largest Upstate New York cities, according to marketing firm Advance Media New York, which used data from the (2016) U.S. Census Bureau. Rome ranked #1 with a total unemployment rate of 5.5% and a total labor force participation rate of 55%. Advanced Media used the Labor force participation rate (the percentage of active participators out of those eligible to participate in the work force), the unemployment rate and the eligible population numbers to rank the cities bas on census data. Middletown (6.7%), Saratoga Springs (7%), Ithaca (7.4%), and Albany (7.5%) rounded out the top 5.

Utica ranked 18th out of 20 with an unemployment rate of 11.9% and Syracuse ranked 15th with an unemployment rate of 10.7%.

"Since taking office in 2016 we have been very focused on increasing employment opportunities. Most encouraging in this report is that the City of Rome was able to beat the statewide average by almost 2%," said Rome Mayor Jacqueline M. Izzo. "Our efforts

Photo Credit - P.W. Creighton/WIBX

to increasingly diversify our economy is paying dividends in the areas of high technology, unmanned systems, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality and tourism. With this latest reporting we have surpassed the 2011 rate of 8.3 by 2.8%," Izzo added.

The data also showed demographic breakdowns. In the city of Rome, persons 45 to 54 had an unemployment rate of 0.8% while those 16 to 29 and 65 to 74 had unemployment rates of over 10%. Rome has 26,658 people eligible for the workforce compared to Utica's 47,467.

1. Rome 5.5%

2. Middletown 6.7%

3. Saratoga Springs 7%

4. Ithaca 7.4%

5. Albany 7.5%

6. North Tonawanda 7.9%

7. Elmira 8.8%

8. Watertown 9.2%

9. Jamestown 9.5%

10. Auburn 9.7%

11. Troy 9.9%

12. Buffalo 9.9%