When Roger Evans, a principal economist of the New York State Department of Labor made what has become his annual appearance before members of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce late last month, he gave a mix of the good and bad for Cayuga County and the upstate region.

On the good news front he made it clear that the county has seen a continual dip in unemployment numbers since a high above 8 percent in 1991 to 5.2 percent (still higher than both the national and New York averages). One of the reasons for this and this isn’t good news — is the continual decline in population numbers.

Looking at county population projections, both past and into the future the numbers are not good. From more than 82,000 citizens at the beginning of the decade to a projection of less than 72,000 as we near 2030 (really not that long from now) we are seeing a massive drop in the number of citizens. By the way, these population trends are not specific to Cayuga County. Evans indicated that there would be another 330,000 New Yorkers if the state had kept pace with the national population trends over the last decade. Couple this with an aging population locally and there will be fewer available workers to fill the jobs of the future.

That is good news if you are one of those who have the skills needed in the future. That is bad news if you are an employer, who will see that you have to increase wages, as has already been seen, to get employees to take on special tasks. The end result is wage inflation.

Evans made it clear that non agricultural employment in Cayuga County has seen an increase for over a decade and a half (going from the mid 24,000 range to more than 27,000).

Overall the employment outlook is good in several areas. If you are looking for trends, look for booms in construction, retail and trades. Still Cayuga County needs to retain workers and also attract others either to come back or settle here. How can it be done?

Two key ways, which receive not enough public attention and discussion, are both basic jobs skills and vocational training.

Smart communities can help slow the decline in population by strengthening these two areas where we are weak.

The other idea, mentioned at the luncheon, is to look for immigrants who could be considered “strivers,” people, like those who settled here from the late 1880s through the 1940s, are the creative and hard workers who can create jobs and boost the local economy over the long term.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com