New York City lost fewer jobs and recovered faster than the rest of the country from the Great Recession, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Monday by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
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The report also looked at the types of jobs that were created, which showed an increasing number of residents working in low-wage industries as well as the rise of part-time work.
“What this first-of-its-kind report shows is that our bounce-back was faster and more robust than the rest of the country. We obviously have big challenges -- an affordability crisis, rising income inequality, and more,” Stringer said. “But this in-depth look demonstrates that New York City is thriving in a way that other cities and states aren’t.”
In 2007, the Great Recession took hold in the United States and lasted through 2010. In New York City its effects were seen in 2008 and lasted through 2009.
“It took New York City just three years to recover the jobs it had lost during the Great Recession -- compared to six years for the United States as a whole; New York City lost 100,100 jobs between the pre-recession high in 2008 and the 2009 low -- a decrease of 2.6%...The United States, in contrast, lost 7.6 million jobs from 2007 through 2010, a drop of 5.5%; from 2009 to 2016, the city added 629,500 jobs -- a gain of 17%...All told, from the city’s pre-recession high in 2008 to 2016, New York City gained 529,400 jobs, a boost of 14%; between 2010 and 2016, the country as a whole gained 13.9 million jobs, for an increase of 10.7%,” according to the study.
“Overall, between the pre-recession peak of 2007 and 2016, the United States gained 6.3 million jobs -- representing growth of just 4.6%; looking at just New York City residents -- as opposed to jobs in New York City held by both residents and commuters -- the difference is less pronounced. It took five years for the New York City resident job market to recover, and the net job growth from 2008 to 2016 was 5.9%,” the report said.
However, the analysis showed that not all was not rosy in the Big Apple regarding wages.
The study found that 53% of all jobs lost in the city in the recession were in high-wage industries, which paid an average of $187,000 a year in 2015. In the recovery, only 22.7% of the new jobs were created in high-wage industries while 55.7% were in low-wage industries, which paid about $42,000 a year on average,
Overall, between the pre-recession peak in 2008 and 2016, jobs in low-wage industries accounted for 61.5% of all the new private-sector jobs created in the city, the report showed.
“As always, we have more to do. Too many New Yorkers are working in low-wage industries, and we need to redouble efforts to ensure that economic fairness reaches every corner of the city,” Stringer said. “We’re also facing unprecedented threats from Washington and an unstable political climate. We have to be vigilant if we’re going to keep New York City on top in this century -- and the next.”
