The last statistics The New York Department of Labor put the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Big Apple at 7.6%, the worst of any New York metro area and nearly double the national average of 4%.
In Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city, the comparable January rate was 7% and in Chicago, the third-largest, it was an even lower 5.1%.
The statistics also revealed that in the Bronx the unemployment rate is 11.1% and that black New Yorkers, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, face 15.2% unemployment.
According to the Department of Labor, blacks tend to be essential or service workers, whose industries were hit the hardest by the COVID shutdowns.
Also, part of the reason New York City is falling behind is because of the time it took to reopen after the pandemic. While the city’s real estate prices have skyrocketed, offices in midtown Manhattan and the financial district remain empty as many employees have opted to work from home.
As a result, subway ridership remains at 60% of pre-pandemic levels and surrounding businesses in Manhattan, particularly in the service, hospitality and entertainment industry, have yet to fully recover.
Mayor Eric Adams has made bringing workers back to the office one of his top goals, calling on the city’s top business leaders to encourage their employees to return to the office in order to stimulate the city’s economy. the city.
In Manhattan, which accounts for 57% of city jobs, nearly 275,000 fewer paychecks were handed out than in March 2020, according to data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.
But with fewer people commuting to the office, only 30% of employees are signing in for work compared to 2019 and only a fifth of businesses plan to return fully.
But crime is another factor inhibiting the city’s economic recovery. Felonies are up more than 45% this year, compared to the same period in 2021, according to the latest figures from the NYPD’s CompStat.
Additionally, New York tourism dropped from 66.6 million visitors in 2019 to 22.3 million in 2020 when the pandemic hit. The industry has had a hard time recovering and the wave of violence is not helping.
On Monday, a mother and her 9-year-old daughter visiting from Miami experienced what New Yorkers experience on a daily basis. The minor was hit in the head by a fleeing man, but was stopped shortly after by a doorman at The Plaza Hotel.
The girl and her mother Yelena Contreras Molerio were walking in Central Park when they were attacked around 11:20 am at the corner of Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza. The suspect was identified as Raheem Ramsarran, 27.
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