A proactive and progressive City Council headed by Mayor Robert Duffy has not only been tough in cleaning up crime, but has also placed Rochester among the Top 20 US Metro Economies, according to a study by the Brookings Institution, out of Washington.
With a history in the “film business”, and an economy hinged to the success of Eastman Kodak company, Rochester has had to redefine it’s place in the information age as the world turned to digital imaging.
Fortunately, Xerox Imaging, Bausch & Lomb, and a number of other world-leading multi-national corporations also call Rochester home, and the growth of information and high-tech industries in and around Rochester has helped keep the local economy in good shape throughout the downturn.
Read the full article here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100916/BUSINESS/9160324/Rochester-economy-in-top-20-in-nation
2 comments
rpmullin
14 November, 2012 at 15:11 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What is the unemployment rate like in Rochester?
Michael Anger
19 November, 2012 at 02:03 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Rochester CMA has an unemployment rate of 7.9% (NOT seasonally adjusted) as of September 2012, which is the most current reported month that I can find data on at this time.
The US national figure for Sep 2012 is 7.6%. Rochester has typically trended at or below the US national unemployment figure, and a 0.3% variance is within the expected range of fluctuation, given that seasonality has not been factored out of the figures that I could find.
Typically, it is the seasonally adjusted figures that are of interest to economists looking at the bigger demographic picture, as there is an itinerant working population in many markets during various seasons, for industries (such as farming, grounds/yard maintenance, tourism, golf pros and greens keeping, and ski and snowboard patrol/instructors, for example) who may choose to have two seasonal career streams or relocate seasonally to where the work is in their career field.