BUFFALO NEXT: WORKFORCE There's an even more sobering element to the disappointing October jobs report that came out Thursday. It was bad enough that the Buffalo Niagara region's job market stagnated last month after a respectable jump in hiring during September. But we already know that the Buffalo Niagara job market took a big turn for the worse in November.
And when you look at the 1,550 jobs that are being lost from the sudden shutdown of the Sumitomo tire plant in the Town of Tonawanda earlier this month in the context of the overall job market, it's even more concerning. In essence, the Sumitomo shutdown will wipe out all of the gains the region's job market had scratched and clawed to muster since Thanksgiving 2023. During that time, the region added a grand total of 900 jobs.
That averages out to less than 100 new jobs each month. In one stunning blow, the Sumitomo shutdown will wipe out more jobs than the region had added over the previous 11 months combined. Thursday's jobs report from the state Labor Department didn't off er much encouragement, either.
The region lost 300 jobs from September to October, continuing a year-long stretch of topsy-turvy job growth that essentially shows that hiring has flatlined across the region this year. When you look at it that way, it only reinforces how painful those job losses are. The region's recovery from the Covid-19 recession already was tepid, at best.
Job growth since the pandemic lockdown already had been lagging far behi.
