Mar. 6--Unemployment rates for January 2009 in the four-county area ranged from 9 percent to 11.3 percent, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The rates jumped more than 1 percentage point in each of the counties compared with the previous month, a statistic local leaders said was disturbing but not surprising.

And the rates were 3 percentage points higher than in January 2008, the Labor Department reported. State officials also said the recession worsened in the second half of last year, and local unemployment rates are 2-to-4 percentage points higher than state and national rates.

"The squeeze continues," said Rob Robinson, president and chief executive officer at the Otsego County Chamber.

The economic uncertainty and turmoil in the financial industry means that unemployed workers must consider retraining options to expand their skills, said Kevin Price, executive director of the Chenango-Delaware-Otsego Workforce Investment Board. The unemployment rates are "exceptionally high" compared with the past, he said, and the stresses of joblessness add to economic struggles.

"I don't think any economist has a firm grasp of when the economy is going to pick up," Price said. "In the meantime, it's going to be a difficult situation for people looking for jobs." The state Department of Labor reported nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rates as, respectively, for January (preliminary), December 2008 and January 2008, in percentages:

New York state: 7, 6.6, 4.7

United States: 7.6, 7.2, 4.9

Otsego: 9, 7.3, 6.6

Delaware: 9.6, 7.5, 6

Chenango: 10, 8.2, 7.1

Schoharie: 11.3, 8.7, 8.8

Schoharie's January unemployment rate was the second highest in the state, trailing only Lewis County's 11.7 percent. Otsego and Chenango's January rates were their highest since 1994, while Delaware and Schoharie's January rates reached 1992 levels.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor is to release national unemployment figures for February.

New York state's unemployment, after seasonal adjustment, was 7.0 percent in January, the highest level since October 1992, the state department said in reporting the preliminary rate. The rate is up from 6.6 percent in December and from 4.7 percent in January 2008. The year-to-year 2.3 percentage point increase is the largest on record for data back to 1976.

The nation's rate was 7.6 percent this January, up from 7.2 percent in December and 4.9 percent in January 2008.

The department said the data show the state's private sector job count, after seasonal adjustment, peaked at 7,314,200 in August.