NORWICH – New manufacturing jobs at Agro Farma, Raymond Corporation and Unison Industries have cut the county’s unemployment rate, falling from 8.0 in September to 7.5 percent in October.

The unemployment rate had been hovering between 8.5 to as much as 9 percent for the good part of 2011.

While employment tends to heat up approaching the holiday season, the hiring pattern in the non-farm and private sector is a little bit better than an historic pattern, said an economist with the New York State Department of Labor.

“Chenango County is a bright, shining star throughout the Southern Tier and a highlight throughout the state,” NYSDOL Senior Economist Christian Harris said this morning.

Chenango County’s manufacturers and a smattering of other companies, such as CWS and Frontier Communications, gained 600 new employees over the month and cut the ranks of the unemployed by 200, he said.