NEW YORK CITY PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT GROWS
Budget Director Joseph Lhota today commented on a State report showing growth in New York City's private sector employment. The employment data was released yesterday afternoon in Albany by the New York State Department of Labor.
"As the State's employment data indicates, the City is continuing its growth in private sector jobs," Mr. Lhota said. "In fact, if the current rate of growth continues, the City will experience in 1997 the largest increase in private sector employment since 1984."
According to the report, private sector employment in the City increased by 3,400 jobs in May, representing growth of 1.8%. Total employment increased in May by 2,400 jobs, as government employment (federal, state and local) decreased by 1,000 jobs.
The City's unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) fell for the first time in over a year from 9.7% in April to 9.6% in May. "The expectation is that as welfare rolls decrease, the number of people looking for work will increase, and thus unemployment numbers will go up. Instead, what we have experienced in New York City is just the opposite," Mr. Lhota said. "While the number of new jobs increased, unemployment went down. The policies initiated by the Giuliani administration have already reduced the welfare rolls by 263,000."
"This continued growth in jobs contrasts dramatically with the loss of 350,000 private sector jobs that New York City experienced during the Dinkins Administration," Mr. Lhota added. "Over the past three and a half years, the Giuliani Administration has reversed that trend by creating more than 148,000 new private sector jobs and putting the City on the road to economic recovery."
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