New York's jobless rate picture remains a tale of two states as unemployment rates are far higher in the five boroughs of New York City than the rest of the state. 

Numbers released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor show a slow, but steady recovery of jobs in nearly every region of upstate New York as well as on Long Island. But in New York City, the recovery has taken longer. 

Tourism and hospitality businesses have struggled to regain employment as the pandemic has continued on in the last two years, hurting areas like New York City that rely on the industry for jobs. New York City's unemployment rate fell over 12 months from 13.3% to 7.3%. 

Still, that remains above the 5.3% jobless rate statewide, and outside of the city the unemployment rate is only 4.3%. 

In areas like the Buffalo-Niagara metropolitan area, joblessness fell from 7.4% in January 2021 to 4.5% this past January. Rochester and Syacuse have also seen declines from more than 6% of a year ago to about 4% in January. And in the Albany area, unemployment has fallen from 5.6% at the start of 2021 to 3.4% in January of this year.