The unemployment rate for the Binghamton area in December was 6.1 percent. That's the lowest December unemployment rate since 2007.


But, it also ties Binghamton with the Utica-Rome area for the highest unemployment rate in New York state. The area added 600 private-sector jobs from December of 2013 to December of 2014, but the number of both employed and unemployed people in Binghamton dropped over the same time. That means the labor force has gotten smaller.


"We're seeing a low rate but we've got a lot of ground to cover. We want to see our labor force hold in some way, shape, or form, or at least not shrink at the two-and-a-half percent to three-percent range that it has been this year," said Christian Harris, Labor Analyst for the New York State Department of Labor.


The best-performing sector over the past year was construction, which saw a jump of 600 jobs, or over 15 percent. The worst performing sector was computer and electronic product manufacturing which dropped 400 jobs, or 6.5 percent.