New York Employment Landscape
In the first two months of this year, more than 12,700 New York jobs related to the subprime mortgage market were lost and with the way things are currently going on Wall Street more layoffs could be on the way.
According to New York's Independent Budget Office's (IBO) last month prediction, 21,000 jobs in the state's finance sector are expected to be done away with over the course of the next two years. But what does this means for residents who are not finance professionals?
Ronnie Lowenstein, director of the IBO, says that "It is hard to understand the impact of the financial industry on the New York City economy." Nevertheless he went on to say that "when the city's financial sector catches cold, the city's overall economy catches something much worse."
Currently the finance sector accounts for 23 percent of all New York jobs and 27 percent of the city's tax revenues. Because of this, the damage caused by layoffs at Wall Street could very likely be passed down, causing jobs in New York to be done away with in other industries from retail to transportation. Many believe that the surge in tourism and foreign real estate purchases could help to cushion the blow while others remain skeptical.
The falling value of the dollar has made New York a top destination for foreign travels, according to BusinessWeek.com. In 2006, there were 7.3 million international visitors to New York city, which is an all-time record. Still, with the severity of the conditions at Wall Street, there is still no telling what the indirect consequences of financial industry layoffs will be.
