Upstate counties' unemployment rates continue to push the overall jobless picture lower in New York statewide, according to numbers released this week by the state Department of Labor. 

New York has struggled to regain all of the jobs lost during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its projected most jobs won't fully return for several more years. 

New York's overall unemployment rate stands at 4.3%, but the rate in New York City remains a full percentage point higher at 5.3%, the state Department of Labor reported. 

But in parts of upstate New York, counties are showing lower jobless rates. Counties in the Hudson Valley, Capital Region and the Finger Lakes in December had unemployment rates of less than 3%.

Dutchess County, for instance, had an unemployment rate of 2.5%; Saratoga County's stood at 2.3%; and Ontario County was at 2.7%. 

New York's economy is being closely watched, too, ahead of a potential economic downturn in the aftermath of the pandemic.