NY1 Exclusive: Low-Wage Industries See Gains From City's Jobs "Recovery"
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The city may have regained most of the jobs it lost since 2008, but many of those positions are in low-paying industries. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report. Mayor Michael Bloomberg likes to tout New York's so-called speedy economic recovery. In recent weeks, his statements on the matter have included:
• "When the country lost 6 percent of its jobs, we lost point 3 percent, and we've come back and gotten that back already."
• "That's why we only lost 0.3 percent of our private sector jobs."
• "While people across the country are talking about creating jobs, we are doing it. If you take a look at diversifying your economy, everyone talks about it, but we've actually done that."
• "Since everybody writes these stories about people being out of work, you'd think you'd be interested in how we solved the problem."
While New York City may have recovered most of the jobs lost during the Great Recession, the gains have not been equal in all sectors.
"The city has regained some jobs, but on net the jobs that we've gained have almost all entirely been in the low-wage sector," said James Parrott of the Fiscal Policy Institute.
According to the state Department of Labor, they went to restaurants, hotels, educational services or retail, where the average wage is little more than $34,000 a year.
While some middle- or high-wage sectors, like the movie business, saw significant gains, at least 28,000 jobs between September 2008 and September 2011 went to low-wage industries.
As employment grows in low-wage sectors, the city has lost thousands of jobs in higher wage brackets, like on Wall Street.
For those making more than $75,000, like in the securities industry, at least 54,000 jobs have vanished.
Experts say it could create a budget problem in the future.
"If you're creating jobs that only pay $30,000, $40,000, maybe a little bit less or a little bit more, versus jobs that pay $200,000, $300,000, the city is taking in less in tax revenues," said Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute.
Industries targeted by administration, like the tech sector, have seen modest gains since 2008.
Experts say much of this job growth is out of City Hall's hands.
"[To k]eep up the quality of life, other jobs should come here and replace the ones that are lost," said Gelinas.
They just may not match their salaries.