“Tomorrow’s jobs will require new and enhanced skills. The NYS Department of Labor and our workforce partners are ready to help jobseekers meet those challenges.” Kathleen Marnell, Employment Services Team Leader, Finger Lakes Region
In 2007, the Finger Lakes region's private sector job count increased over the year by 1,400, or 0.3 percent, to 476,100, its highest level since 2001. Regional job gains were concentrated in a few industry sectors, while manufacturing continued its long-term decline, shedding 3,000 jobs.
The educational and health care services sector was, by far, the largest source of new jobs in the region, adding 2,200 jobs in 2007. The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), which is the region's largest employer, has been a very consistent and steady source of jobs over the last decade. A planned $500 million expansion at the center is projected to create another 800 new jobs just at URMC. Spin-off effects of the expansion may create hundreds more in other sectors of the regional economy.
World-class research conducted at the center will lead to significant commercial applications, and should generate an increasing number of new business startups. These activities could spur thousands of new jobs for the region within five years. Part of the expansion involves the creation of a 150,000 square-foot state-of-the-art building, which will become home to the University's Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The plan would position URMC among the nation's top medical research universities and enhance the medical center's appeal as an upstate destination for specialized medical treatment. URMC plans to hire 140 scientists and doctors in the next four years for its signature programs such as: research and treatment for cancer, cardiovascular disease, immunology and infectious disease, musculoskeletal disease and neuromedicine.
Changing demographics and cost-containment efforts continue to shape the nation's health care industry. A greater emphasis on ambulatory treatment and in-home health care has already resulted in a significant shift from the traditional hospital setting to other less costly alternative- care options. With occupancy rates at or over 100 percent, several area hospitals recently proposed expansion and renovation plans.
Professional and business services also contributed to regional growth, posting an over-the-year gain of 700 jobs in 2007. However, all of the growth occurred in the first half of the year, as the sector suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune in the middle of the year. A slowing national economy led to substantial job cutbacks at employment service firms as well as in the management of companies and enterprises in the last quarter of 2007.
For many years, Eastman Kodak was the largest employer in the Rochester area and one of the top 10 employers in New York State. However, with the rapid decline of its traditional silver-halide film business and the rise of digital photography, the company has undergone an expensive transformation. As a result, the company's current local workforce is now 9,200, down 85 percent from its peak in 1982. Moreover, the company's local job count is at its lowest level since before 1920. Although Eastman Kodak's very painful four-year restructuring is finally over, additional job cuts may be necessary in the future.
While only a shadow of its former self, Kodak continues to make significant contributions to the regional economy. According to the local business press, the company has a $650 million annual payroll and spends $500 million on goods and services in Monroe County alone. Despite its shrinking local employment numbers, many of the jobs lost at Kodak remain in Rochester, but with other companies. For example, last year Canadian investment firm Onex Corporation purchased Kodak's health-imaging unit and renamed it Carestream Health.
Like much of Upstate New York, the Finger Lakes regional economy is much more diverse than in the past. Locally, manufacturing remains important, with an above-average share of jobs that pay salaries more than 40 percent over the region's average. However, service-providing industries now drive the regional economy and continue to offer the most opportunities for growth in the future.
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