The Buffalo Niagara region’s unemployment rate is easing a bit, but that doesn’t mean the recession is letting up on the local job market.

The region’s unemployment rate improved to 8.3 percent in May, even though the pace of job losses here accelerated to its fastest rate since late 2001, the state Labor Department said today.

The region’s unemployment rate typically declines from April to May as seasonal businesses bring on more workers. As a result, the jobless rate declined from April to May, even though the region had 13,800 fewer jobs than it did in May 2008.

The job data indicates that the recession still is exacting a rising toll on the Buffalo Niagara region, with jobless rates remaining at their highest levels since the mid- 1980s.

“It’s more of the same, and a little bit more,” said John Slenker, the labor department’s regional economist in Buffalo.

The region lost jobs at a 2.5 percent annual pace from May 2008 to May 2009, the fastest rate of decline, on a year-over-year basis, since December 2001 and worse than the 2.2 percent decline statewide.

The region’s unemployment rate improved from 8.5 percent in April, but was far above the 5.7 percent jobless rate in May 2008.

With the auto industry still in the doldrums and the spring construction season off to a slow start, Slenker said he doesn’t expect a turnaround in the local job market until after the national economy begins to recover.

The job losses, as they have been throughout the spring, were spread across all portions of the local economy, from manufacturing and construction to retailers and hotels and restaurants.

The steepest decline in jobs was in the construction industry, which had 10 percent fewer jobs in May than it did a year ago. Still, Slenker thinks an influx of federal stimulus money could spur additional construction work this summer in an industry that typically adds 5,000 to 6,000 jobs between early spring and the peak of the building season in August.

Manufacturing jobs also continued to vanish at a rapid pace, with the region shedding 2,900 factory jobs, or 5 percent of the industry’s total employment.

“It’s very widespread,” Slenker said.

The only bright spot in the local job market were with government jobs, which grew by 700 over the last year, spurred by increased Census-related hiring at the federal level and a scattering of new jobs at the local level.

While employment at local hospitals was flat, the number of jobs declined in each of the 23 other private-sector industry categories that the labor department tracks.

The unemployment rate in Erie County was flat at 8.1 percent, while the jobless rate in Niagara County improved to 9.3 percent in May from 9.9 percent in April.

The regional unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is less than the seasonally unadjusted national rate of 9 percent, but higher than the statewide jobless rate of 8 percent.

The number of jobs plunged by 2.9 percent in Allegany County. Cattaraugus County lost jobs at a 0.9 percent annual pace, while Chautauqua and Wyoming counties experienced 0.7 percent declines. Genesee County was the lone bright spot, adding jobs at a 1.2 percent annual rate.

Here are the unemployment rates for other Western New York counties for May, April and May 2008:

Allegany —8.6 percent, 8.5 percent and 5.7 percent.

Cattaraugus — 8.6, 8.8 and 5.7.

Chautauqua—8, 8.4 and 5.

Genesee — 7, 7.5 and 5.1.

Orleans — 8.8, 9.6 and 6.4.

Wyoming — 8.2, 8.8 and 5.5.