Buffalo has two traditions going, one bad and one good.
First, the bad: the city continued to lose population precipitously, as it has for the past 60 years.
Now, the good: Buffalo has gained jobs for the sixth straight month, according to jobs data analyzed by the Buffalo News. Over the last year, that's amounted to 1,500 new jobs.
A flurry of hiring at retailers, restaurants and in business and professional services jobs fueled the job growth. At the same time, the region shed 500 government jobs, mostly because of cutbacks by state government and local schools.
While any job growth is considered positive sign in a city shrinking as fast as Buffalo, the numbers are less impressive when put in context.
Even after February's job growth, the region still has 13,300 fewer jobs than it did three years ago, before the recession began battering the local job market. At the current rate of growth, it would take about 8 1/2 years for the region to regain all of the jobs it lost during the downturn.
