Ithaca College Professor Elia Kacapyr forecast an economic 2007 much like 2006 for Tompkins County yesterday. His economic activity index showed a decline of 0.1% last year, mostly because of the small number of jobs he saw created in the county - 100 for the year, instead of 700 in 2005. Robert Sweet, deputy regional director of the Southern Tier office of the New York State Department of Economic Development, said that "In the nine counties we cover outside of Binghamton, Tompkins County is by all measures the healthiest."
Dryden seems on track to get some new jobs next year with the RPM tree-growing facility currently under construction, but I guess we'll see.
The print edition of the Journal includes Kacapyr's more detailed report for December 2006, which compared Tompkins County's unemployment (2.6%) to the higher state (3.8%) and national (4.3%) rates. Holiday retail, airport traffic, new home permits, nd home sales declined, while help wanted ads climbed.
County Legislator Martha Robertson asked Kacapyr about underemployment, and he replied that:
Sometimes those unemployment figures can mask problems. When you look at the average income in Tompkins County and look at poverty rates in Tompkins County, those are evidence that there is some mass underemployment going on."
Sort of good, but sort of not good enough.
Posted by simon at February 7, 2007 8:46 AM in Ithaca Journal , Tompkins County , economy