AGENCY TESTIMONY
Economic outlook for New York City
0:03:56
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124 sec
Comptroller Lander presents a mixed economic outlook for New York City, highlighting both positive indicators and ongoing challenges. The city's economy shows moderate growth, but faces some sector-specific issues.
- Private sector jobs and office-using jobs are at all-time highs
- Job growth is concentrated in lower-wage industries, while higher-wage sectors are stagnating
- Residential rents remain near record highs, posing affordability challenges
- Commercial real estate market continues to struggle due to remote work trends
Brad Lander
0:03:56
Starting with the economic picture, New York City's economy has been reasonably strong and is expected to continue growing at a moderate pace.
0:04:04
The number of private sector jobs in New York is now higher than before the pandemic.
0:04:10
Thank you.
0:04:12
Office using jobs at an all time high, and the proportion of New Yorkers that are employed is higher than it has ever been before.
0:04:19
I'll actually add this morning just, the pension funds are doing quite well.
0:04:23
Fiscal year to date, 8.5% returns.
0:04:26
They are also at historic the pension funds are at historic highs both in dollar amount and in percent of funding, while we continue to implement a strong responsible investing program that attends to environmental and, social and governance goals as well.
0:04:42
So there's a lot of good news.
0:04:44
However, you know, some plenty of things to keep an eye on.
0:04:47
The the new jobs added in the past year have continued to be in relatively few, and relatively lower wage industries, health care, social services, food services, education.
0:04:58
Job growth has stagnated in some of the higher wage service industries that are key to the city's economy, finance, technology, business and professional services.
0:05:07
And that lack of momentum, combined with an anticipated cooling off of economic growth nationally, suggests that the city's economic activity will grow at a slower pace over the next few years.
0:05:19
As members of this council well know, residential rents, continue to be near record highs in an average of $35100 a month, a sign of continued attractiveness to the city, which is good, but far too high for families in our neighborhoods and all across our city, and a deterrent to new business start up and job growth.
0:05:39
The slumping commercial real estate market caused by the shift to remote and hybrid work continues to be a serious challenge.
0:05:46
But thus far, the, quote, doomsday scenario that many worried about, has not materialized.
0:05:52
And while we see continued hard times, especially for class b and c portfolios, we don't see that doomsday scenario on the horizon.
