Falling venture capital investment and disappointing job growth contributed to signs of a potential slowdown of New York City's economy during the second quarter of 2016, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a
Wednesday's report said that the city's economy, while continuing to outpace the nation's, rose an estimated 1.7% between April and June, the slowest rate since the end of 2013.
"Our city's economy is still growing – but in 2016 we've gone from a sprint to a jog," Stringer said. "For the first time in a number of years, several important economic indicators are pointing toward weaker growth. While the residential real estate market remains strong and the wage gap has narrowed, this report confirms that our recovery is no longer gaining steam."
The quarterly updates examine a broad range of indicators that reflect city conditions in the national economic context.
Real gross city product still outpaced national gross domestic product growth of 1.2%.
In the second quarter of 2016, the city added 13,400 private-sector jobs, said Stringer. That represents a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.4% – a substantial drop from growth of 4.6% in the first quarter. Despite recent trends, 85% of these jobs were in medium-wage industries such as hospitals, and arts, entertainment and recreation.
Mirroring national increases in consumer spending, local industries such as education and health services and leisure and hospitality experienced the greatest private-sector job gains, according to Stringer.
Wages in low-wage industries improved in 2015, he added.
Moody's Investors Service rates the city's general obligation bonds Aa2. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings assign AA ratings.
