CAPITAL DISTRICT — According to the newly released Regional Economic Recovery Dashboard, the largest increase in job numbers by industry in Saratoga County are in Health Care and Social Assistance, which grew from just over 10,000 in 2015 to more than 12,000 in 2020, or an increase of 20%.
Transportation and Warehousing was up 32% during that same time, and Real Estate & Rental and Leasing (up 22%), and Utilities (up 21%) also showed large percent increases. The largest percentage decline by far was in Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector – down 801 jobs, or 25% when comparing Saratoga County trends from 2015 to 2020 – the latter being a year affected by the pandemic.
The dashboard report comes via the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, or CDPRC, a regional planning and resource center first established in 1967 that serves Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. CDRPC provides objective analysis of data, trends, opportunities, and challenges relevant to the region’s economic development and planning communities.
Some additional points:
*Unemployment claims in Saratoga County peaked at 4,472 (a rate of just over 13%) one year ago this week – nearly five times higher than in late March 2019, before settling in to approximately 300 to 400 per week since Aug. 8, a week-to-week number of claims roughly twice the number of those one year prior.
*Small business revenues in Saratoga County ended 2020 nearly 50% down compared to a pre-COVID baseline, according to the report.
*Address Changes from New York City to Saratoga County has increased exponentially recently. There were a total of 14 such changes From January to March 2018, and zero from January to March 2019. In March 2020, there were 129 address changes in that one month alone, and the past five months have averaged nearly 70 per month.
To read the report, go to: cdrpc.org.
