SYRACUSE -- Lisa Travis and her husband have been working round the clock to keep up with demand since "Zonies", their specialty calzone restaurant, moved to Armory Square two weeks ago.
"Our weekend business is through the roof because of the downtown bars and being right here in Armory Square," said Travis. "So we need drivers, we need people to work inside, basically everything."
The neon "open" sign has been bringing in crowds at all hours, the "help wanted" sign Travis put in the window hasn't drawn much interest.
"We figured we'd put the help wanted sign up and we'd have to turn people away because we'd get so many applicants - but it's not the case," said Travis.
"Zonies" might be seeing fewer applicants since fewer people are out of work in the Syracuse area. While unemployment is still higher than usual, the Syracuse area unemployment rate dropped to 7.3% and the area added seven hundred private sector jobs over the last year. The Syracuse and Ithaca areas had the best job increases by percentage in New York State.
"Very clearly the numbers for May show Syracuse has entered the economic recovery," said economist Roger Evans with the New York State Labor Department. "It indicates that quite clearly but it doesn't tell us how strong and how speedy that recovery will be."
Private sector job growth is considered a strong indicator of an improving economy but Evans also noted that government budget woes may lead to heavy job losses in the public sector.
The latest unemployment numbers may show signs of recovery in the Syracuse area but downstate New York is still struggling. New York City's unemployment rate went from 9.1% to 9.4% over the past year.
