Jobs

New York's senators say they have three new pieces of legislation that will reduce unemployment among recent veterans.

At a joint press conference Monday outside Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) unveiled the three bills, which Gillibrand says have bipartisan support.

Unemployment among veterans who served after September 11, 2001 is more than 12 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In a filing with the state labor department Wednesday, Kodak says another 141 local workers will lose their jobs.

The majority will be let go by mid-July.

The latest round of local cuts brings the number of layoffs since the imaging company filed for bankruptcy in January to 527.

That's according to the six separate filings Kodak has submitted to the state.

Kodak ended 2011 with just over 5,000 employees in the Rochester area. At its peak in 1982, that number was over 60,000.

More tax breaks does not equal more jobs.

That's according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's latest report on New York's industrial development agencies (IDAs).

In his fifth report on IDAs [PDF], DiNapoli says the number of jobs created by the local economic development engines dropped by 22,000 from the year before.

DiNapoli also cites a $483 million gap in what IDAs gave out in tax breaks and how much they took in via payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTs).

That breaks down, the report finds, to a $2,659 cost per job - up 9 percent from the year before.

"Taxpayers are not getting enough bang for their buck when it comes to IDAs," DiNapoli said in a statement.

An international company that processes Medicare appeals is more than doubling its footprint in the Rochester area.

Maximus Federal Services already employs about 160 workers in Victor and Fairport.

Now, the Virginia-based company is expanding to a new Pittsford location, opening its doors in mid-May with roughly 325 workers.

The Cuomo administration is promoting a new program aimed at reducing unemployment among teens and young adults in low-income parts of the state.

The Labor Department's New York Youth Works program was first announced in February. Officials were in Syracuse late last week to highlight the benefits of the program.