New York, whose diverse economy has fueled unprecedented job growth in recent years, now faces a greater challenge in recovering from the pandemic than almost any other major city in the country. Over a million residents are out of work and the unemployment rate is almost double the national average.
As the coronavirus rises again in the region, tourists are staying away and any hope that workers will recharge the city’s office towers and support its businesses before the end of the year fades. As a result, New York’s recovery is likely to be slow and prolonged, economists said.
So far, New York has found jobs more slowly than other major cities. In September, employment in the city was still down by more than 600,000 jobs from the previous year, according to the state labor department.
In September, more than 2.3 million New York State residents were receiving unemployment benefits, said James Parrott, an economist at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School. Of those, at least 1.3 million were city dwellers who were either out of work or severely underemployed, he said.
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These losses are concentrated in five key industries – restaurants, hotels, the arts, transportation and construction services – which depend on travel, tourism and business activities, Mr Parrott said. Workers in office buildings were made redundant, pending the return of professional services workers to their offices.
“A lot of those things that we had celebrated as helping to diversify the city’s economy into the Covid economy turned out to be big responsibilities,” he said.
Among the 51 largest metropolitan areas nationwide, only two – Las Vegas and Los Angeles – had higher unemployment rates in August than in New York City, according to the federal Department of Labor.
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