7 Capital Region Sectors Saw 20-Plus-Year Employment Highs in 2022
In 2022, employment in seven Capital Region sectors climbed to their highest levels in more than 20 years. While that was the most sectors in any of New York’s 10 economic development regions to break two-decade employment records, the Capital Region was 20,000 jobs short of its pre-pandemic total, according to a Center for Economic Growth (CEG) analysis of data from the New York State Department of Labor.
All Ownership Total Employment
Among public and private employers, the Capital Region averaged 508,482 jobs in 2022. While that was an 11,971 (2.4 percent) increase from the previous year, it was 20,740 jobs below the pre-pandemic, all-ownership total in 2019.
Sector Performance
More than four-fifths (83.3 percent) of those losses from the pre-pandemic period were concentrated in three sectors: healthcare and social assistance (-7,190), government (-6,509), and accommodation and food services (-3,585). Other regions saw even steeper losses in these sectors. For example, whereas the Capital Region’s healthcare and social assistance sector was down 9.1 percent since 2019, it declined 13 percent in the Mohawk Valley and 10.7 percent in Central New York. The Capital Region’s 5.7 percent decline in government employment since 2019 was the fifth steepest in the state.
Several Capital Region sectors have experienced strong growth in 2022. The region’s manufacturing sector averaged 34,956 jobs in 2022 – its most since 2001. In fact, the Capital Region was the only region in the state with a manufacturing sector that is larger now than before the pandemic. Driving that growth were manufacturers, such as Plug Power in Latham and Slingerlands, BelGioioso Cheese in Schenectady County.
The region’s two fastest-growing sectors that reached their highest employment in two decades were transportation and warehousing, which was up 20 percent to 16,266 since 2019, and agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, which over that period was up 25.2 percent to 2,838. Other sectors with employment levels at their highest in more than two decades were administrative and waste services (21,858), and construction (22,218). At 32,370, the professional and technical services sector, which includes scientific R&D services, was six jobs short of setting a new employment record in the region.
CEG INITIATIVES
CEG has a decades-long tradition of supporting the Capital Region’s tech industries. CEG consistently represents the Capital Region at semiconductor industry events worldwide. CEG is also serving as a group sponsor several high tech apprenticeship programs, maintenance technicians at GlobalFoundries and software developers. CEG also promotes the region’s high tech industries, including R&D to Commercialization and Advanced Electronics at conferences and other events worldwide, such as Semicon West. that highlight the strength and size of the advanced electronics R&D and manufacturing sector.
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