New York City lost 750,000 payroll and self-employed/independent contractor jobs on average between the months of February and December in 2020. The loss for the entire year was the worst single-year city job decline since the 1930s. The partial rebound since last spring has been called a K-shaped recovery for good reason; many in the bottom half of the economy have lost jobs or earnings and are experiencing severe housing and food insecurity, while most of those in the top half retain their jobs, and many have seen their financial assets rise in value. The city’s underemployment rate is 25 percent. This report examines the Covid-19 economic and employment impact in New York City, including the demographic and industry contours of the job market effects and how the pandemic has exacerbated wage and income inequality.
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As the Covid-19 pandemic grinds on, hospitals around New York State report a growing crisis for children who need mental health care: Suicide attempts and other psychiatric emergencies are up, inpatient units are full, and very sick kids regularly spend days in loud and crowded emergency rooms, waiting for beds to open up.
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New York City’s retail industry was hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This report examines the job market implications of the pandemic’s upheaval of the retail industry, the unevenness of Covid’s impacts within the sector, and the acceleration of e-commerce and online retailing seen over the past decade.
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This report examines New York City’s app-dispatch driver pay standard and finds that in the first year of the pay standard (pre-pandemic) driver pay increased by about nine percent, passenger fares rose slightly but not much more than in Chicago without a pay standard, passenger wait times declined significantly, and some of the pay increase was absorbed by the app-dispatch companies through lower effective commission rates.
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New York’s antiquated law governing unemployment insurance disincentivizes work and threatens to slow the economic recovery. This report from the CNYCA analyzes the proposed Stirpe-Ramos bill’s reform for New York’s partial unemployment insurance benefits and finds that low- and moderate-income workers would benefit and models several scenarios to show that additional costs to the state’s UI trust fund will be small.
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Nonprofit social services provide essential services for a broad swathe of New Yorkers, yet these organizations face significant workforce retention and recruitment problems. This report from the Center for New York City Affairs outlines concrete steps that can be taken to invest in these essential workers by building robust career ladders, addressing pay disparities among workers, and raising the compensation of nonprofit workers to aid in retention and recruitment. The ongoing public health emergency and economic dislocation make clear the need to invest in social service workers essential not only during emergencies but also day in and day out.
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This report updates the Center's ongoing examination of the Covid-19 economic impact, finding that as of early August, unemployment remains distressingly high, and the July expiration of the temporary $600 Federal supplemental weekly unemployment insurance benefit will impose deep new hardships on hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and on the entire city economy.
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Since February, New York City has lost 1.25 million jobs, by far the sharpest job decline since the 1930s. To a greater extent than in previous downturns, the Covid-19-related job losses are heavily concentrated among low-wage workers, hitting persons of color, immigrants, young workers, and less educated workers the hardest. It is likely that the city could end 2020 with 500,000 to 600,000 fewer jobs than at the beginning of the year. Substantial additional federal economic assistance is needed to reduce hardships and spark more and better employment opportunities.
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New York City’s economy is in a more precarious state than at any time since the 1970s fiscal and economic crisis. The current public health and economic crisis far surpasses the personal, psychological, and economic devastation wrought by 9/11, the 2008-09 Great Recession, or Superstorm Sandy. The social distancing public health imperative at present has incapacitated a substantial portion of the city’s economy. Job losses and new unemployment claims that have mounted since the beginning of the pandemic are unprecedented. An estimated 1.2 million New Yorkers (or 27 percent of all private sector workers) will be jobless by the end of April in an environment where businesses have been ordered to close and non-essential personnel told to stay at home. This report identifies the workers and industries that are expected to experience the most profound displacement and economic losses as business closures and social distancing measures demanded by the health crisis continue. The daunting economic challenges New York City faces in the months and years ahead are discussed.
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