New York City economy show strength with 30% drop in Black and Latino unemployment

New York City Mayor, Eric Adams is celebrating, and last Thursday he explained his reason, because new data is showing a huge downward trend in unemployment in New York City especially among Black and Latino. The growth is built on the progress made in previous quarters. The all-time jobs high the city is now experiencing falls between the period of January 1, 2022, and July 1, 2024.

According to Mayor Adams, the Black unemployment rate in the five boroughs decreased from 10.7 percent to 7.3 percent a 31.7 percent decrease and a full percentage point below the level pre-COVID. During that time as well the Latino unemployment rate decreased from 9.1 percent to 6.5 percent a 28.6 percent decrease. Mayor Adams noted also that the labor force participation rates for Black, Indigenous, and people of color including Latino as well as white New Yorkers have all increased over the same period as well.

The Adams administration’s economic achievement is strong, “…and growing stronger each month, with June setting historic highs for total jobs, private sector jobs, labor force participation and the lowest unemployment rate since mid-2022,” said Deputy Mayor of Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, Maria Torres-Springer. In continuing her remarks further, Torres-Springer, said that “importantly we see that this progress shows up in the data for Blacks and Latino New Yorkers and reflects how the Adams administration is focused, and will continue to focus, on building an equitable, resilient, and inclusive economy.”

Torres-Springer in continuing to outlining the achievement of Mayor Adams’ Administration and what has been accomplished noted also that hundreds of millions of dollars in creating good family, sustaining public and private sector jobs for New Yorkers have been invested, that the administration has launched and advance transformative projects in all five boroughs. These include projects ranging from the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, to the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Brookly, to SPARC Kips Bay in Manhattan, to Willets Point in Queens and the North Shore Action Plan in Staten Island. The expectation is that these projects will create tens of thousands of permanent and temporary construction jobs and will generate more than $100 billion in long-term economic impact and cultivate good-paying 21st century job opportunities.

In addition, the Adams administration launched a “Jobs NYC” a multi-pronged citywide effort to reduce barriers to economic opportunities and deliver workforce development services directly to communities across the five boroughs that are experiencing high unemployment. The city is also on tract to deliver over 14,000 apprenticeship opportunities by the end of 2024.

Last month Mayor Adams announced the city’s first-ever community hiring effort, which will leverage more than $1.2 billion in City contracts to create job opportunities for underserved New Yorkers. Community hiring allows the city to use its purchasing power, set hiring goals across city procurement contracts, and build on the success of existing project labor agreements and agency specific hiring programs.