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New  York  State  has  taken  the  first steps down the road of economic recovery,  but  that  recovery has been slow going and uneven across the regions  of  the  State,  according to a report issued today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“The  recession  didn’t  hit New York as hard as other states,” DiNapoli said.   “But  there’s  still  a  lot  of pain.  Our economic recovery is headed  in  the  right direction, but the road out of recession is still winding and potentially perilous.”

“The  recovery so far has been a mixed bag. Private sector employment is up  while  public  sector  employment is down.  Home values in the major metropolitan  upstate  areas rose sharply in the fourth quarter of 2010, but  have begun to decline again in the New York City metropolitan area. Rising  oil  and gas prices, disruptions due to the crisis in Japan, and low  consumer confidence could hold back economic activity.  Our economy is  improving,  but the pace of the recovery is clearly slower than we’d like.”

New  York’s  Gross  State  Product grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent during 2010, after two consecutive years of decline.  Economic output in all  metropolitan  areas rebounded in the past year, with Ithaca leading the  way with a 3.3 percent change, followed by the Mid-Hudson Valley at 3.1  percent,  Buffalo  at  2.9 percent and Rochester and the Utica-Rome regions  at  2.4  percent.   IHS  Global Insight predicts that the Gross Metropolitan Products of most New York cities will slow during 2011.

Job  losses during the recession were less severe in New York State (3.8 percent) than in the nation (6.1 percent).  Despite this, New York State lost  nearly  336,700  jobs.   Overall,  unemployment  in New York State doubled  during  the  recession,  and  by March 2011 had only eased to 8 percent  from  a recent peak of 8.9 percent in September 2009.  DiNapoli noted  that  private  sector employment, led by tourism, health services and  education,  grew  by  95,100 jobs during 2010 and by another 27,600 jobs in the first quarter of 2011.  Public sector employment declined by 28,200 jobs (1.9 percent) between December 2009 and March 2011.

Personal income rose by 4.1 percent during 2010, the second-highest rate of growth among the states behind only New Mexico, which reflects modest job  growth  and  higher Wall Street bonuses.  Wall Street, which earned $27.6  billion  in  2010,  the  second-best year on record, has regained 9,700  of  the  28,200  jobs  the  securities  industry  lost during the recession.

Home values in the downstate region have begun to decline again and foreclosures will continue to hold down prices.  Home values in the New York City metropolitan area peaked in May 2006 and fell by more than 20 percent through April 2009.  Between October 2009 and February 2011, home values in the New York metropolitan area fell by 4 percent. However, median home values in the five major upstate metropolitan regions rebounded strongly in the fourth quarter of 2010 over their values in 2009 with Binghamton (15.6 percent) leading the way, followed by Buffalo (14.3 percent), Syracuse (7.9 percent), Albany (7.6 percent) and Rochester (5.2 percent).

While the share of mortgages that are at least 90 days delinquent eased to 3.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, the share of mortgages in the foreclosure process has continued to rise, reaching 5.2 percent in that same time period.

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