NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: Economic Recovery Uneven Across New York State

New York State has taken the first steps down the road of economic recovery, but that recovery has been slow going and uneven across the regions of the State, according to a report issued today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.


“The recession didn’t hit New York as hard as other states,” DiNapoli said. “But there’s still a lot of pain. Our economic recovery is headed in the right direction, but the road out of recession is still winding and potentially perilous.”


“The recovery so far has been a mixed bag. Private sector employment is up while public sector employment is down. Home values in the major metropolitan upstate areas rose sharply in the fourth quarter of 2010, but have begun to decline again in the New York City metropolitan area. Rising oil and gas prices, disruptions due to the crisis in Japan, and
low consumer confidence could hold back economic activity. Our economy is improving, but the pace of the recovery is clearly slower than we’d like.”


New York’s Gross State Product grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent during 2010, after two consecutive years of decline. Economic output in all metropolitan areas rebounded in the past year, with Ithaca leading the way with a 3.3 percent change, followed by the Mid-Hudson Valley at 3.1 percent, Buffalo at 2.9 percent and Rochester and the Utica-Rome regions at 2.4 percent. IHS Global Insight predicts that the Gross Metropolitan Products of most New York cities will slow during 2011.


Job losses during the recession were less severe in New York State (3.8 percent) than in the nation (6.1 percent). Despite this, New York State lost nearly 336,700 jobs. Overall, unemployment in New York State doubled during the recession, and by March 2011 had only eased to 8 percent from a recent peak of 8.9 percent in September 2009. DiNapoli
noted that private sector employment, led by tourism, health services and education, grew by 95,100 jobs during 2010 and by another 27,600 jobs in the first quarter of 2011. Public sector employment declined by 28,200 jobs (1.9 percent) between December 2009 and March 2011.


Personal income rose by 4.1 percent during 2010, the second-highest rate of growth among the states behind only New Mexico, which reflects modest job growth and higher Wall Street bonuses. Wall Street, which earned $27.6 billion in 2010, the second-best year on record, has regained 9,700 of the 28,200 jobs the securities industry lost during the
recession.


Home values in the downstate region have begun to decline again and foreclosures will continue to hold down prices. Home values in the New York City metropolitan area peaked in May 2006 and fell by more than 20 percent through April 2009. Between October 2009 and February 2011, home values in the New York metropolitan area fell by 4 percent.
However, median home values in the five major upstate metropolitan regions rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter of 2010 over their values in 2009 with Binghamton (15.6 percent) leading the way, followed by Buffalo (14.3 percent), Syracuse (7.9 percent), Albany (7.6 percent) and Rochester (5.2 percent).


While the share of mortgages that are at least 90 days delinquent eased to 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, the share of mortgages in the foreclosure process has continued to rise, reaching 5.2 percent in that same time period.


For a copy of the report visit: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/economic/nys_econ_rpt2-2012.pdf