New York City’s monthly economic-conditions reports has some good nuggets of information about the local economy.
The report is yet another reminder that since the credit bubble burst, the city has done better than the rest of the country in losing fewer jobs and getting them back faster.
Between 2008 and 2009, New York City lost 112,000 private jobs (other reports, which break employment levels out by month rather than quarter, put the total higher, at around 130,000). The city has since gained about 90,000 back.
Employment today is only 1.6 percent below the August 2008 peak (New York peaked later than the rest of the country — Wall Street was the last, or second-to-last, to get the message that the mortgage monster had died).
President Obama would love to see these numbers: the nation as on the whole has replaced only 20 percent of its lost jobs.
Also notable: the headcount in leisure, hotels, and retail is now at a record, with hospitality (think hotel) jobs 3 percent above their bubble peak. Thanks, global tourists.
Doing poorly still locally? Construction, down 16 percent from the peak — and finance, still down 8 percent. Even though financial profits are back, the people aren’t there.