State\'s Jobless Rate Falls for First Time in Nearly a Year

New York's jobless rate fell for the first time in 11 months in September, a welcome sign for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, though the state's rate remains well above the national average.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that New York was the only state in the nation with a statistically significant increase in its unemployment rate over the last 12 months, through August, according to the federal household survey. The Cuomo administration has pointed to more positive statistics, notably the federal payroll survey - those numbers have offered a more favorable picture of New York's job growth.

Last month, however, there was improvement in the household survey. New York was one of 41 states to report a decline in unemployment, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released state numbers for September on Friday morning. New York's jobless rate is now 8.9 percent, compared with 7.8 percent nationwide. The st ate's rate fell from 9.1 percent in August.

One state that did not fare nearly as well was Ohio, a key swing state in next month's election. The state suffered one of the largest decreases in employment in the nation, losing 12,800 jobs from August to September. New York, by contrast, added more than 10,000 jobs in the same period, according to the payroll survey, which does not measure agriculture or the self-employed.

“The jobs data is still obviously uneven,” said Edmund J. McMahon, senior fellow at the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative research group. “The story is still one of fairly pronounced unevenness regionally. Downstate, the city is still much stronger than the suburbs, and upstate you have these islands of growth - Rochester and the capital region â€" and then rest is not great.”