Rochester Beacon (https://rochesterbeacon.com/category/economy/page/2/)
In a web conference presented by the Rochester Beacon and Upstate Venture Connect, Monroe County’s Adam Bello and his peers from Onondaga and Oneida counties expressed cautious optimism on the region’s economic prospects as the pandemic threat recedes.
In the week ended May 30, filings in the Rochester-Finger Lakes region fell to the lowest level since the pandemic shutdown began.
With the economy on lockdown, unemployment in April jumped to 15 percent, up from 3.7 percent a year earlier.
In first full month of the statewide coronavirus lockdown, the Rochester area lost roughly 20 percent of total jobs.
A new paper co-written by a UR professor contends it’s unlikely the pandemic’s economic damage can be reversed simply by lifting stay-at-home orders.
The pandemic lockdown has forced an unprecedented shift to working from home. For many businesses, the transition has been swift and unexpectedly smooth.
Nearly one-fifth of its staff of nearly 18,000 will be idled due to revenue losses stemming from the coronavirus.
In the week ended April 25, the Rochester-Finger Lakes region saw nearly 10,000 new filings, bringing the total since March 14 to 86,355.
New filings in the latest report were sharply lower than each of the previous three weeks—but still more than 1,000 percent higher than a year ago.
The region’s lenders have funded hundreds of millions of dollars in coronavirus relief loans, and they are ready to do more—when the federal PPP spigot turns on again.