Unemployment  directly affects the housing market so this is relevant and interesting.

From the Ithaca Journal…

 Ithaca again has the lowest unemployment rate among the metro areas of New York State, the State Labor Department reported Wednesday. The area’s unemployment rate of 6.6 percent in January was lower than in January 2010, which was 6.8 percent.

 By comparison, the January state seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.3 percent. Ithaca’s unemployment rate increased from December, when it was 5.6 percent during holiday season hiring.

The Ithaca area’s private-sector job growth was the most rapid among the state’s metro areas, up 1.3 percent in 2010 from 2009 after the number of private-sector jobs in Ithaca had fallen 1.6 percent in 2009.

The total nonfarm job trend went from negative 0.3 percent in 2009 to positive 0.9 percent in 2010.

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