Utica Rome Unemployment Rate Down In January

There's some good economic news -- the local unemployment rate was down in January.

The New York State Department of Labor says the jobless rate in the Utica-Rome area was 7%, down from 7.6% in January of 2014.

The statewide unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8% in January. That's the lowest level since September of 2008.

Meanwhile, the state's private sector job count increased by 150,800 from January 2014 to January 2015.