FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #027-00
Thursday, January 20, 2000

Release #027-00

Contact: Sunny Mindel/Curt Ritter 212/788-2958

MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES NEW YORK CITY HAS STRONGEST PRIVATE SECTOR JOB GROWTH ON RECORD -- OUTPERFORMS LAST YEAR'S RECORD GAINS

Announces City's Record Job Growth Outpaces The Nation's

Notes City's Unemployment Rate At Lowest Level In 10 Years

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced today that, according to employment figures released by the New York State Department of Labor, New York City had the strongest private sector job growth on record in 1999, with the creation of over 81,100 private sector jobs, this surpasses last year's record gains of 77,400. In December 1999, 5,200 private sector jobs were created in New York City. Since December 1993 the City has created 379,000 jobs, a dramatic reversal after the City's loss of 348,000 jobs during the last recession.

In 1999 New York City's private sector employment recorded a growth of 2.7%, outpacing the rest of the country's employment, which grew at 2.3%. Since 1993 New York City has also outpaced the rest of the State with a job growth of 12.8%, significantly more than the rest of the State's job growth of 7.7%.

In addition, the Mayor also noted that the City's unemployment rate fell to 6.0% -- from 6.4% in November, the lowest rate in over 10 years. The City's unemployment rate is down more than four percentage points since December 1993, when unemployment was 10.2 percent.

"Today's job growth figures further prove that New York City's economic renaissance continues," said Mayor Giuliani. "As we expected, New York City had its strongest private sector job growth in 1999, surpassing last year's record, which was the City's best performance in more than 40 years - since records were first kept. With the creation of more than 379,000 jobs since December 1993, New York City continues to set an example for the rest of the nation. In addition to breaking last year's record employment, New York City's unemployment rate is at its lowest level in more than 10 years."

EMPLOYMENT GAINS 1999