Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

jobs

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  • New York City Should Start Preparing Now for a Biden Infrastructure Plan

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    New Yorkers at work (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    A major new federal infrastructure investment seems increasingly likely this year. During the campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to boost the economy and tackle climate change. President Biden now has signaled that he intends to move his Build Back Better plan forward later this month, and it could have bipartisan support.

    New York City should start preparing to seize this opportunity. 

    Few other cities would benefit more from a public

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  • Video Brief: The Economy and the 2021 Election

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    A ribbon-cutting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In this episode, we discuss the issues of the economy and jobs, and key aspects of what candidates in the 2021 New York City elections are considering, should be asked by voters, and more.

  • Leveraging City Assets and Community Input to Jumpstart Our Economic Recovery

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    Construction workers at work (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    As our city stays focused on managing what we hope to be the final chapter of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also need to keep thinking proactively about driving a strong and just economic recovery.

    It’s no secret that in my Brooklyn district and across the five boroughs, there’s a long road ahead. Our official citywide unemployment rate is now hovering around 12%, with the highest jobless rates still in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

    A recent report showed that year-to-date filings for new

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  • Out of School and Out of Work, City's Disconnected Youth Have Steep Hill to Climb, Report Says

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


    The pandemic's greatest health impact has fallen on older New Yorkers, but its economic effects are being deeply felt by the city's young adults.

    The number of young people who are both out of school and jobless in New York City -- so-called "disconnected youth" -- has likely doubled since the coronavirus roiled the city beginning last spring, according to a new and long-awaited report from

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  • Immigrant, Black, and Brown New Yorkers Need Albany to Deliver a Recovery for All

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    New York budget season has begun (photo: Make The Road New York)


    Immigrant, Black, and brown New Yorkers have experienced unspeakable losses and suffered catastrophic economic consequences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Community members have lost loved ones and lost jobs at disproportionate levels, and struggled week after week to try to pay their rent and feed their families. And they have made very clear that they expect bold, transformational solutions from state government to meet the scale of the need.

    Unfortunately, Governor Cuomo

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

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    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

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  • CUNY Chancellor on What's Next for the Public University System and New York's Recovery

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    CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodriguez (photo: Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez)


    For the City University of New York’s hundreds of thousands of students and millions of alumni, the largest urban university system in the United States has long served as a springboard. A 2017 study by Harvard economist Raj Chetty and coauthors, ranked five CUNY schools in the top 10 of their economic mobility index, meaning these schools have achieved high success in propelling lower-income students to

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  • Letter To The Editor: One Key for the Governor’s New 'Commission on the Future of the New York Economy'

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    Governor Cuomo at a factory (photo: governor's office)


    To The Editor:

    As Gotham Gazette recently reported, “Cuomo Focuses on Economic Revival in Second 2021 State of the State Speech,” Governor Cuomo presented a seven-point agenda for economic recovery in New York, including a new “commission on the future of the New York economy” led by the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. The commission will be given the crucial task of

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  • New Yorkers Must Push Candidates Hard for Economic Recovery Vision

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    We’ve all been watching events in Washington, D.C. with horrified amazement and trepidation. 

    Regardless of Washington, New Yorkers have work to do at home. We’ve been living through a pandemic for just about a year. Everyone in New York is aware we face major budget crises at the state and city levels. Resolution of our fiscal problems is one of the biggest

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  • The City’s New Plans to Help Disconnected Young Adults

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    Mayor de Blasio with city youth (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged New York City since early last year has presented daunting challenges for our youth and young adults. Students from pre-kindergarten through college have missed out on months of in-person instruction, not to mention the countless everyday interactions beyond the classroom that help them discover who they are and who they want to be. Young adults who held jobs before COVID-19 are disproportionately likely to have fallen out

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  • Cuomo Focuses on Economic Revival in Second 2021 State of the State Speech

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    Gov. Cuomo during his second 2021 SOTS speech (photo: governor's office)


    In his second of four planned State of the State speeches this week, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday outlined a plan to revive New York’s struggling economy, get New Yorkers back to work, and to prepare them for jobs that adapt to a post-covid future.

    In his first speech on Monday, Cuomo presented a broad

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  • CUNY’s Adjunct Faculty Should Have the Same Job Protections as New York’s Fast-Food Workers

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    CUNY grads (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    There’s an unwarranted assumption that workers with college degrees are at the top of the heap in terms of not only earnings but also rights and dignity. Despite the obvious benefits of desk work, especially work that can be done remotely during a pandemic, the fact is that many highly-educated workers in New York City are plagued by the same low wages and lack of job security that fast-food workers have been fighting for years. Such is the plight of 15,000 Adjunct Faculty who teach hundreds of

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  • The Luxury of Risk: Helping People Afford to Pursue Their Dreams Again

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    An opportunity for workers in an old law (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    As several cities begin to shutdown again with the hope of slowing the spread of COVID-19, we’re reminded of the timeless words “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I’m interested in the unique opportunity to evaluate how that third unalienable right — the pursuit of happiness — matches with the reality of today’s world and steps we can take to improve opportunities for people to pursue and achieve their definition of happiness.

    For Americans, it

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

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    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

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  • Saying Yes to Good Jobs in Queens When We Need Them Most

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    Construction workers at work (photo: Edward Reed/Mayoral office)


    New York City is on a long road for recovery from COVID-19. Many of us have a family member, friend, neighbor, or co-worker who has been directly infected with this horrible disease. Because of our tragic experience, New Yorkers recognize better than people from any place across the globe the importance of masks, social distancing, and handwashing, and we have transitioned from the epicenter to become one of the safest places in the country.

    But while we have taken many necessary steps to combat the spread

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  • New York Should Bring Full Casino Gaming Downstate to Create Good-Paying Jobs and Tax Revenue

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    Full casino gaming downstate should be on the table, the author says (photo: governor's office)


    Back in 2013, the Hotel Trades Council (HTC) — the union I lead that represents nearly 40,000 hotel, hospitality, and gaming industry workers across New York City and the surrounding suburbs — negotiated a landmark contract that nearly doubled workers’ wages, guaranteed free family health care, and provided retirement security to over three-quarters of employees at Resorts World, the city’s one and only casino. This was the beginning of the pathway out of poverty

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  • What's The [Data] Point? 29, The Debate Over the Special Flushing Waterfront District

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    Special Flushing Waterfront District development rendering


    What's The [Data] Point? 29, The Debate Over the Special Flushing Waterfront District [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    The proposed Special Flushing Waterfront District has become the latest battle in the ongoing war over development in New York City. The proposal, which now sits with the City Council after being passed by the City Planning Commission, is for a large swath of Flushing and would house new

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  • City's 'Open Storefronts' Program Critiqued as Too Late and Too Limited But with Room to Grow

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    SBS Commissioner Doris at a small business (photo: @NYC_SBS)


    Frustrated City Council members and hopeful––yet weary––small business advocates took to a hearing Tuesday to express their concerns about the Open Storefronts program launched recently by Mayor de Blasio after outcry from the business community, particularly smaller retailers. Small businesses, many of which are struggling to hold on if they haven’t already closed due to the pandemic and a lack of government help, can enroll in the program that, as of now, will give them through December 31 to sell their merchandise

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  • For the Entire Metro Region, We Must Do Everything We Can to Avoid Another Broad Economic Shutdown

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    Steve Bellone, the author/left, at a local business (photo: @SteveBellone)


    To say that 2020 has been a rough year for New Yorkers would be the understatement of the century. COVID-19 hit us like a mack truck, with the greater New York City metropolitan area suffering the worst.

    Working with Governor Cuomo, we quickly sprang into action to flatten the curve and save lives with a shutdown. But it did not come without a steep toll on our economy and small businesses. After months of strict shutdown rules, New Yorkers finally began to see a light at

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  • For an Equitable Recovery, New York Must Utilize Our Manufacturing and Industrial Sector

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    DNJ Mechanical Corp. moving into Maspeth (photo: BOC Network/Maspeth Industrial Business Association)


    As we get deeper into the current crisis, it’s becoming clearer that New York won’t simply bounce back to “normal.” We need effective strategies to transform our city’s infrastructure and economy. Policies aimed at protecting and growing industrial jobs can improve not only our citywide economy, but the nearby low-income residential communities and the lives of the predominantly of-color manufacturing workforce.

    As industrial business service providers, we ask our current and

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  • New York City Needs a Public Option for Employment

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    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

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  • Queens Deserves Better Than a Development Plan That Benefits Too Few

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    Flushing Waterfront development rendering


    When faced with a crisis, whether 9-11 or Hurricane Sandy, New York has always rebuilt. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic damage means that, now more than ever, we need to invest in our city. 

    But that doesn’t mean that all development is created equal, or that all proposed projects should get a blank check under the guise of recovery. That is why we have a review process for developments seeking to

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  • Forum Offers Ideas from Other Cities for Rebuilding New York

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    An uphill effort to recover in New York (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    As New York City continues to recover and rebuild after the devastation of the COVID-19 outbreak, which had immense health and economic consequences, ideas are being offered to ensure a city that is more inclusive, creative, and responsive.

    During a recent event hosted by the Center for an Urban Future, a leading nonprofit think tank offering many ideas for the city’s short- and long-term recovery, panelists offered suggestions for New York City that have been

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  • Big Flushing Project Up Next in City Debate Over Development

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    Flushing Waterfront development rendering


    When the developers behind Industry City, a massive retail and manufacturing space, announced that they had pulled the plug on their plan to rezone a portion of their property on the Sunset Park waterfront in Brooklyn, community activists in Flushing, Queens celebrated. 

    The proposed Special Flushing Waterfront District is a planned rezoning to usher in massive development along Flushing Creek, and is now being eyed by both proponents and critics as the next big New York City land use battle. The debate over the Flushing

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  • CUNY and New York City Could Recover Together, or the Public University System Could Be Left Behind

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    CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodriguez and students, pre-pandemic (photo: City University of New York)


    College seniors who graduated this June faced a very different economic landscape from the one they saw at the beginning of the school year. A global pandemic shattered the job market, and many industries — including the performing arts, entertainment, restaurants, and hospitality and tourism — were in complete freefall after government-mandated closures. 

    The widespread financial strain that saw unemployment in New York City skyrocket from 4% to well over 20%

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