The Line: NYC Employment Report

By Greg Heym

How many jobs did NYC add last month?

NYC added 41,000 jobs in September, the lowest monthly employment increase since May. Total employment in the City now stands 648,300 (or 13.8%) below its February peak. How does the data compare to a year ago?

Total employment in NYC during September was 13.3% lower than a year ago, with just over 620,000 jobs lost. Leisure and hospitality continues to be the hardest hit sector, with its employment 48.0% lower than during September 2019. Information (-3.9%), financial activities (-5.3%), and education and health services (-6.8%) had the lowest percent declines in jobs over the past year of all private-sector industries. Ignore the gain in federal government employment, as it is due to the Census. What is the City’s Unemployment Rate?

The unemployment rate in NYC fell to 14.1%, down from 16.0% in August. While that is a marginal improvement, the City’s unemployment rate remains well above the national rate of 7.9%. As we’ve said before, we expect the NYC rate to remain above the nation’s for some time as we were the hardest hit by the coronavirus. There is no question that NYC faces big challenges in its economic recovery. The City and State have huge budget gaps, and virus cases are rising sharply in some areas. Workers have been slow to return to their offices, and more temporary job losses are becoming permanent. New York City has a long bumpy road ahead, but history tells us it will make it back. It’s just a matter of when.

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