Unemployment rates in New York City are dropping, according to the Eric Adams administration, with new numbers released by the mayor’s office pointing to significant decreases among Black and Brown residents.
Between January 1, 2022, and July 1, 2024, Adams’s office says Black unemployment rate in the five boroughs decreased from 10.7% to 7.3%, while the Latinx unemployment rate decreased from 9.1% to 6.5% in the same timespan.
“The data is clear: New York City isn’t just coming back, we’re back,” Adams said in a statement to AmNews. “We have more jobs and more small businesses than ever before in our city’s history, and Black and Latinx unemployment are both around 30% lower than when we came into office. That’s tens of thousands of more hardworking New Yorkers able to provide for themselves and their families.”
In its release, the administration touted some notable job-creating projects in all five boroughs, including the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx; Willets Point in Queens; Brooklyn Army Terminal and Brooklyn Marine Terminal; SPARC Kips Bay in Manhattan; and the North Shore Action Plan in Staten Island. Cumulatively, “these projects will create tens of thousands of permanent and construction jobs, generate more than $100 billion in long-term economic impact, and cultivate good-paying, 21st -century job opportunities,” the office said.
The administration also launched Jobs NYC, an effort to create economic opportunities and deliver workforce development services across the five boroughs that are experiencing high unemployment and Run This Town, a million-dollar advertising campaign highlighting thousands of available city government jobs. The administration said it is also on track to deliver over 14,000 apprenticeship opportunities by the end of 2024.
Last month, Mayor Adams also announced the city’s first-ever community hiring effort, which the administration said will leverage more than $1.2 billion in city contracts to create more jobs. Community hiring, Adams said, 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.“We’re not stopping there, though—we won’t stop creating opportunities for all New Yorkers to thrive,” Adams said.