As a resident of the Buffalo area southtowns, I should be thrilled by that information, but the Buffalo News does a good job of pointing out one of the main reasons why my region wasn't hit as hard as many others, and that is this; the Buffalo metro region was already suffering when the downturn hit.

While most large metro regions suffered skyrocketing unemployment rates over the last two years, the Buffalo region  experienced an increase of that rate of 2.9 percent to where it currently stands at 9.2 percent.  While that's below the national average, it isn't by much. 

It's gotten to the point where I've recently myself started working with a couple of folks who used to work in jobs making upwards of $16/hour, and now they're making $7.40/hour.  As an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant, I myself only make $8.25/hour.  I've been working this freakin' job for a year now at that rate, and it likely isn't going to get much better any time soon.

Thanks to cutbacks, I wound up working at said restaurant for that same $7.40 for three months (before promotion) after being let go from a halfway decent gig as a janitor at Buffalo State University, where I was holding up at $12.50/hour. 

The majority of jobs actually accepting applicants in this region are low-paying, no-benefit positions that won't even hire for full-time employment, but they want you to be flexible.  What does that mean?  That means it's harder to go get a second low-paying part-time job to substitute for missing labor hours from the first. 

Thank whatever heavens there may be that I occasionally get a decent freelance writing gig to put an extra hundred dollars or so in my pocket.  That and royalties from sales of my fiction novels, though those haven't exactly been in stellar numbers thanks to no marketing or distribution.