NORWICH – Unemployment hit a new high for the year of 6.7 percent in November headed off by about 265 jobs lost at Meadwestvaco, located just over the county line in Sidney.
November’s unemployment rate compared to 6 percent in October and 4.6 percent in November 2007. Chenango County’s figure is now higher than the nation’s, at 6.5 percent, and New York’s at 5.9. Most jobs were lost in the professional and business services sector.
While officially in Delaware County, nearly half of Meadwestvaco’s 1,050 employees commute daily from Chenango’s nearby towns and villages. The latest cuts at the consumer and office supplies maker included 50 salaried staff that are not seasonal layoffs, company officials said earlier this month. The company blamed the cutbacks on the "challenging economic environment.”
The remaining workforce, which is unionized, is currently in contract negotiations. A spokesperson for the company could not be reached for comment, but analysts are predicting that Meadwestvaco could face diminished earnings next year because of slowing demand, partly from customers reducing inventories and partly from weaker pension and real estate income.
Gary Waffle, a director with the Chenango, Delaware and Otsego Office of Employment and Training, said the county continues to get hit with layoffs at both large and small companies. He pointed to the steadily declining workforce at Amphenol Corporation, also based in Sidney, and fewer retail jobs available over the holiday season.
As a result, the traffic flowing in and out of the career center’s doors on O’Hara Drive in Norwich has increased. An orientation visit to the office is a requirement when filing for unemployment insurance.
“This might be a good opportunity for people to get skill upgrades. Some could receive funding assistance to go to school and learn a new occupation,” he said.
Chenango’s job market has been hard hit, said Alan Sessions, business services representative of the CDO OET in Otsego County.
“We are seeing an increase in job seekers and a decrease in job listings,” he said, “as well as larger companies, like Raymond, being very conservative and going to a four-day work week.”
But instead of painting a bleak picture of the future job market, Sessions said a higher unemployment rate is expected at this time of year.
“We’re not a tailspin locally right now, but it’s hard to tell,” he said. “We will be watching first quarter of 2009 in our region to see how it performs. We’ve been a little insulated from national trends because of business and industry affiliated with the military that don’t get affected in recessionary times.”
Sessions pointed to Norwich Pharmaceuticals picking up both accounts and employees to counter Procter & Gamble’s approximately 100 jobs that will end sometime in the first quarter of this year. He also noted that jobs have been created at yogurt manufacturer Agro Farma of Columbus.
“I don’t want to paint a really gloomy picture,” he said.
The state labor department reported that New York State's economy continued to deteriorate in November. The private sector job count suffered its largest monthly drop since October 2001, the unemployment rate registered its highest level since April 2004, and initial claims for unemployment insurance continued to rise markedly.
In Chenango County, unemployment hit a high of 8.3 percent in 1994; however, it was only 3.7 percent six years later in 2000.
Twice this year Governor David Paterson has extended unemployment insurance. State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said it was “absolutely critical families in Central New York have money on hand to heat their homes, put gas in their cars and food on their tables, and that is exactly what these extended benefits are intended for. This is a true stimulus package that goes straight to the pockets of workers who need it most.”
Both Waffle and Sessions said those who file could be eligible for nearly a year of benefits.