Year-over-year employment increased by 0.3 percent in the Buffalo area, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The period covers June 2004 through this past June. The state's chief economist Stephen Kagann said the addition of 1,600 private-sector jobs in the past year represented a modest improvement.

The unemployment rate for this area was 5.2 percent in June, up from 5.1 percent in May but down from 5.7 percent in June 2004.

Buffalo was one of eight metropolitan areas to post job gains. Among the metros adding jobs was New York City (1.3 percent), Albany (1.8 percent), and Syracuse (1.6 percent).

Four areas lost private-sector jobs, including Rochester (-1.1 percent). In the past year Rochester has lost 4,900 private-sector jobs. The area had 4.7 percent unemployment in June, compared with 4.5 percent in May and 5.3 percent in June of last year.

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