The economy of this small, upstate New York city was long dominated by a few large companies, including shoe manufacturers and later, IBM, according to Clifford Kern, a professor of economics at the University of Binghamton.
As IBM gradually morphed from a computer maker into an IT services giant in the mid-2000's, most of the company's 15,000 local workers lost their jobs.
The area's major remaining employers include defense contractors Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. Nevertheless, unemployment, at 9.6% in February, was nearly two percentage points higher than the national rate.
The economic woes have left Binghamton with little to offer newcomers. "It's not attracting people for the quality of life nor for the weather," said Kern.
