Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

unemployment

unemployment

  • Despite Growing Need, City Struggles to Fill and Expand Programs Dedicated to Combating Youth Unemployment

    Mayor Adams at a youth employment event (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) is struggling to fill and expand career programs dedicated to unemployed, out-of-school youth, despite a dramatic increase in their numbers during the pandemic.

    According to a recent report from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, unemployment among city residents aged 16 to 24 hit 17.9% in October 2022, a nearly 8 point

    ...
  • New York Department of Labor Sued Over Failure to Release Unemployment Insurance Information

    Hochul transparency data covid PPT

    Gov. Hochul presents data (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    An advocacy group for low-income communities is suing New York State for documents and data that could shed light on the struggle of non-English speakers to get unemployment insurance during the pandemic.

    The National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), a legal advocacy organization, filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court last week against the state Department of Labor for documents the group requested under the state Freedom of Information Law.

    ...
  • Identifying Programs from Elsewhere to Boost New York City's Economic Recovery and Transformation

    resource fair nyc jobs

    NYC resources for city residents in need (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    As the economic recovery from the covid pandemic continues to change the job market, experts are looking across the Hudson at a new model to get New York City's workforce ready for the leading sectors of the future.

    In June, New Jersey launched Pay It Forward, a bond initiative to fund workforce training programs for good-paying jobs in growing industries as part of an effort to address the lack of short-term education options for low-income residents. Economists and

    ...
  • Key Steps the Adams Administration Should Take to Protect Unemployed New Yorkers Looking for Work

    ayala helps distribute

    New Yorkers seeking help (photo: Gerardo Romo/City Council)


    When Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes the oath of office in January, he will need to do more than just manage the city’s economic recovery. He will have to ensure that the more than 8% of New Yorkers who are unemployed are able to participate in it. This means ensuring that job-seeking New Yorkers aren’t forced to take on debts they can ill afford just to apply for one in the first place.

    Unfortunately, there are warning signs that predatory private actors are already putting

    ...
  • Expanding State Extended Unemployment Benefits Could Protect 395,000 New Yorkers, But the Legislature Must Act Now

    extended

    The New York State Senate (photo: NY Senate Media Services)


    New York can take precautionary measures now to protect unemployed residents in the event that Congress allows federal unemployment insurance programs to expire on Labor Day. This can be done by the State Legislature passing a bill that ensures the state’s Extended Benefits program remains in place under the total unemployment rate activation trigger when 50% state funding is

    ...
  • Pandemic Spurred Major Jump in Out of School, Out of Work Young Adults in New York City: Report

    NYC youth

    New York City youth (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The number of young adults who are both out of school and unemployed surged during the pandemic after declining for much of the past decade, a new report from the workforce development organization JobsFirstNYC confirmed.

    The analysis, commissioned by JobsFirstNYC and conducted by the analytics firm Chmura, crunched data from the Census Bureau's Community Population Survey to show 27% of 18-to-24

    ...
  • What is New York City Doing to Prepare Its Workforce for the Post-Pandemic Economy?

    resource fair

    Resource Fair (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    With the announcement Friday of a $155 million investment in small businesses, including $5.5 million for workforce development programming, Mayor Bill de Blasio staked a foothold along a critical frontier in New York City's pandemic recovery: preparing workers for the changing economy.

    The city's economy was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the unemployment rate jumping fivefold to a high of over 20% last June. In-person jobs have contracted significantly, especially in hospitality, nightlife, retail, and

    ...
  • Despite Assurances, De Blasio Yet to Release Recovery Plan for City's Devastated Economy

    media avail th

    Mayor de Blasio at his September announcement (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    New York City went into partial lockdown in March as the coronavirus ravaged the population, bringing a once booming economy to its knees and leaving the city teetering on the edge. The immense flock of tourists ground to a halt; the flow of suburban commuters reduced to a trickle; an untold number of residents fled the five boroughs; “non-essential” businesses were forced to shutter at least temporarily; and people were told to stay inside but for essentials. Many thousands fell

    ...
  • 'Shameful': No Sign of City's Long Overdue Plan for 250,000-Plus Disconnected Youth

    2 still no sign

    Organizers and activists (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    While unemployment booms and New York City faces its worst economy in decades, the fate of the city's disconnected youth -- people aged 16 to 24 who are both out of work and out of school -- is getting a shrug from city government.

    The city's Disconnected Youth Task Force, created by the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio to examine the factors that inhibit employment and school enrollment among this group numbering in the hundreds of thousands, is more than two years late to submit its

    ...
  • Survey Shows Extent of Suffering, Challenges for Low-Income New Yorkers

    food line NYC

    A line for emergency food (Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Low-income New Yorkers are doing worse financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic than they were during the Great Recession, according to survey findings being released Friday by the Community Service Society (CSS), a non-profit focused on disadvantaged New Yorkers.

    The Unheard Third is an annual survey conducted by CSS in partnership with Lake Research and named based on the third of voting-age New Yorkers who live in low-income households that are often overlooked by politicians.

    ...
  • New York City Needs a Public Option for Employment

    4 con files

    Construction workers in New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    As our city tries to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, we have a responsibility to ensure that no New Yorker falls through the cracks while others are on the road to recovery. Low-income, underserved communities have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s health and economic damage. For an inclusive recovery, city leadership must think both inclusively and creatively, and use the vast tools of city government in developing solutions especially focused on our most

    ...
  • $40 Billion in Unemployment Paid to 3.3 Million New Yorkers as Pandemic Devastates New York Workforce

    1 40 bn

    New. Yorkers seeking help (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    As a new report indicates unemployment in New York City may be as high as 33%, the state’s labor commissioner testified at a Thursday legislative hearing that since early March, the New York Department of Labor (DOL) has paid almost $40 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 3.3 million New Yorkers, compared to $2.1 billion in all of 2019.

    The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and its fallout on the state’s workforce was the subject of an oversight hearing held by both houses of the State Legislature

    ...
  • New York’s Working Men and Women are Ready To Go Back to Work

    gov cuomo inspect

    Construction needs to boom again (photo: governor's office)


    New York, and the nation, are recovering from an economic hit unlike any other in our history. It has been tough and now is the time to get back to work.

    Let’s build our way out of the pain of the last several months with innovative, ambitious, and transformative projects that will put wages for working New Yorkers back into the economy and let our hard-hit state speed the healing by rebuilding our aging infrastructure.

    Hard work is the backbone of our nation. Hard work is what gives us purpose.

    ...
  • ‘Real’ Unemployment in New York City is as High as 25%, with 1 Million Out of Labor Force Due to Pandemic

    announces 200 new ferry service

    Construction workers (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    Labor statistics can be very confusing, especially for the general public.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released its June 2020 report, and while it does show an uptick in employment across the nation, economic pain remains widespread. The numbers for New York City and New York State, while they lag behind the national report, show more severe difficulties. A New York Times ...

  • City Sees Crush of Public Assistance Applications as Coronavirus Recession Takes Hold

    New Yorkers seek assistance

    New Yorkers wait on line for food (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    As New York City shut down amid the coronavirus outbreak, and hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs and livelihoods, the city saw a massive increase in applications for food stamps and cash assistance.

    According to new data from the city’s Human Resources Administration and Department of Social Services, applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly referred to as food stamps, and for cash assistance have surged since the

    ...
  • Could a Public Works Program Save New York City's Economy?

    maybdb arrival

    Could the reinvigoration of the New York economy come from public works? (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Somewhere around a million New Yorkers are out of jobs and billions in tax revenue has evaporated as New York City bears the brunt of possibly the worst disaster in its history. The coronavirus has been devastating the city’s people, their way of life, and their livelihoods. As elected officials and experts look to the future, when the pandemic eventually subsides, they must plot a path out of the crises that will remain.

    New Yorkers will need jobs, and

    ...
  • Coronavirus Threatens to Perpetuate Generational Inequality, Leaving Young People Behind Yet Again

    17 sots address

    Young people are again in highly precarious positions as the economy crumbles (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    If we have learned anything from the Great Recession just a decade ago, it’s that young adult generations that enter the labor market in an economic downturn are at a serious disadvantage, impacting their ability to successfully launch a career and reach financial security and self-sufficiency like the generations before

    ...
  • Resources: How New Yorkers Can Access Help with Food, Unemployment, Health Care, Domestic Violence, Small Businesses, & More

    1 cm carlina rivera baruch

    (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    As the coronavirus outbreak causes more and more health, social, and economic damage, many New Yorkers need help. Below is a guide to some available resources (please let us know if there’s something we should add).

    For updates from New York City about the pandemic, you can text the word “COVID” to 692-692, or “COVIDESP” to 692-692 for the same notifications in Spanish. 

    Unemployment Insurance
    If you lost your job due to the coronavirus outbreak and its fallout,

    ...
  • De Blasio Names 'Food Czar' to Combat Impending Hunger Crisis with 'Mobilization We've Never Seen Before'

    action network mayor

    Mayor de Blasio serves food (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    As the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has spread in New York, people have begun buying food off the shelves of local supermarkets to prepare for prolonged periods of isolation in the face of the virus. Public schools and senior centers are closing, many of which provide vulnerable New York City residents with food and meals, and tens of thousands of people appear to have already been laid off from their jobs, all leaving New Yorkers increasingly worried about food

    ...
  • Passage of Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act a Key Step; Here’s What Must Come Next

    coronavirus response

    The coronavirus response must continue (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Early last Saturday morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed comprehensive legislation that would begin to ease the economic hardships Americans are facing right now as a result of the developing coronavirus crisis. After modifications from the House that weakened sick leave provisions, the Senate voted Wednesday to pass the The Families First

    ...
  • Trump Tells the Truth, Sort of - Poverty & Unemployment Rates Down for People of Color, But Full Story is Complicated

    mayor bdb sbs

    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    President Trump’s nonstop record of false claims (12,000-plus labeled false or misleading as of an August count in the Washington Post) received a brief respite recently when he tweeted that poverty and unemployment rates for black and Hispanic residents of the United States had reached record lows, which PolitiFact and other media outlets acknowledged as accurate.

    While it’s true

    ...
  • Advancing Efforts to Hire People with Disabilities Across New York's Economy

    dxej efucaa3uxe

    Victor Calise, front-left, is one of the authors (photo: @NYCCalise)


    In the fairest big city in America, everyone deserves the opportunity to be employed. Unfortunately, the reality is that people with disabilities in the United States are twice as likely to be out of the workforce as their nondisabled peers.

    Data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor shows that the proportion of Americans with disabilities ages 16 to 64 that was employed last year was only 30.4% compared to 74% for non-disabled individuals in the

    ...
  • Dissecting Mayor De Blasio's Record As He Seeks Reelection

    Mayor de Blasio Chirlane McCray City Hall Reelection Parade

    Mayor Bill de Blasio & First Lady Chirlane McCray (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    As Mayor Bill de Blasio, a first-term Democrat, seeks reelection this fall, a close examination of his record is essential. De Blasio came into power promising to address inequlality in a variety of forms, including income, educational, policing, racial, and opportunity inequities he identified during his 2013 campaign. In this year's election de Blasio is running in part on his record, which is headlined by the

    ...
  • De Blasio's Record on Jobs and The Economy

    bdb scissors

    De Blasio at a business ribbon-cutting (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    This article is part of a series on Mayor de Blasio's first term record as he seeks reelection this fall, in partnership with WNYC radio and City Limits. Find all pieces of the series here.

    **********

    In the four years since Mayor Bill de Blasio took

    ...
  • ‘Interventionist’ De Blasio Unveils Ten-Year Jobs Plan

    bdb jobs booklet presser works

    The Mayor & his jobs plan (photo: Felipe De La Hoz)


    Holding up a glossy, 114-page booklet emblazoned with “New York Works” in bold yellow lettering – the same words hanging from the wall behind him – Mayor Bill de Blasio promised on Thursday to make New York City the “capital of cyber security.”

    Cyber security is one plank in the mayor’s ten-year job creation plan, which he announced from the sleek Garment District offices of SecurityScorecard, a firm specializing in cyber security monitoring and threat detection. Cyber

    ...