Latest Employment figures for Columbia and Greene Counties

If you want more numbers (and who doesn't?) than were on offer in this story, you can look at the Labor Department's State and Area Unemployment Rates here. Otherwise, know this: Columbia County remains among the counties with the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 4.5% in September, while Greene County's unemployment rate was 5.7%. Both counties saw significant reductions in their unemployment rates from the previous September, dropping from 5.9% and 7.4%, respectively. Unfortunately, in both cases, although the number of unemployed fell, so did the number of employed. The former outweighed the latter in both counties, thus the reduction in the unemployment rate. In September there were about 400 fewer unemployed, but also 300 fewer employed in Columbia County, while in Greene County there were also 400 fewer unemployed with only 100 fewer employed. So, once again, lower unemployment rates hide something else: either people leaving the county or just leaving the workforce.