Broome County’s unemployment rate held at 4.5% in August, unchanged from July and from August 2025, according to new numbers released Tuesday by the New York State Department of Labor.
The number of Broome residents who were employed increased by 1,100, to 82,500. The number of unemployed Broome residents was unchanged at 3,900.
The Binghamton metro area, which includes Broome and Tioga counties, also saw no change in its jobless rate. It stayed at 4.4%. About 4,700 metro residents were unemployed, the same as last August.
Employed residents in the two-county area rose by 1,500, to 103,800. Tioga accounted for about 400 of that gain. Tioga’s unemployment rate was 3.7%, up one-tenth of a point from a year earlier.
The number of payroll jobs in the Binghamton metro area remained unchanged from last August at 99,300.
Private employers were down 600 jobs over the year. Retail and leisure and hospitality each lost 400, while private education and health services added 500. Government, led by local schools, added 600.
The Southern Tier regional rate was 4.2%, unchanged from last August and below New York State’s not-seasonally-adjusted rate of 4.6%. The U.S. rate was 4.3%.
Because local ...