Employment

• Private sector jobs in New York City rose by 15,000 in July after an increase of 8,300 in June.
• In the same period, government jobs in the City fell by 4,200 resulting in a net increase of 10,800 total private and public sector jobs.
• Since July 2011, private sector employment has risen by 72,200 jobs or 2.2 percent.
• The City’s unemployment rate remained at 10.0 percent between June and July.
• Between June and July, the number of employed City residents fell by 2,800, and the number of unemployed City residents rose by 2,300.

Job Growth by Borough

• Information about jobs in each of the boroughs is available from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). Data for the full year of 2011 recently became available, and these help us to examine more closely where jobs were gained during the last two years.
• New York City’s private sector shed 108,900 jobs (-3.5 percent) between 2008 and 2009 as the Nation was in a recession. However, by 2011, the City had regained all of the jobs that it lost during that period; the level of jobs stood 0.2 percent above the 2008 peak.
• The bulk of the jobs in New York City are located in Manhattan. Its historic role as the City’s central business district and tourism hub will likely help it retain that position, but businesses in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx are adding positions and demonstrating an increasing importance in the City’s job market.
• Of the 114,900 net private sector jobs created between 2009 and 2011, 59.1 percent were in Manhattan. In 2008, Manhattan had 61.6 percent of the City’s private sector jobs, so the increase was nearly proportional to the market’s overall size. Brooklyn, however, created 27.2 percent of the jobs added in the City over the period, which was well above its 2008 employment share (14.2 percent). The remainder were added in Queens (8.8 percent) and the Bronx (5.2 percent).

• Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx accounted for 39.5 percent of total private sector employment in NYC in 2011, which was up from 38.4 percent in 2008 and well above the historical share since 1990 (although down slightly from 39.7 percent in 2010). Overall, private employment in the boroughs outside Manhattan combined was up 10.8 percent between 2002 and 2011, while Manhattan was up 5.7 percent.
• Employment in the boroughs outside Manhattan is more recession-resistant. As a result, there is an inverse relationship between total private employment in NYC and the share of jobs that are located in the other boroughs. Yet even considering this effect as a factor, the boroughs’ share of City jobs is up significantly from 1990, when it was 36.0 percent.

• Examining the sectors which contributed to gains, we saw that employment in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector increased by 15,000 in the boroughs outside Manhattan between 2009 and 2011, which was nearly one-third of the total private sector jobs that were added there. Accommodation and Food Services and Retail Trade were other sectors that experienced big gains, with employment increasing by 9,500 and 9,300, respectively.
• In Manhattan, Accommodation and Food Services led employment growth between 2009 and 2011, adding 22,700 jobs. Retail Trade added 13,500 jobs, and the Information sector experienced the third-largest gain with 10,100 jobs.

Real Estate and Construction

Manhattan Office Market

• In August 2012, both the Manhattan Class A direct vacancy rate and average rental rate remained stable at 8.1 percent and $69 PSF, respectively.
• In the same month, the Midtown South Class A direct vacancy rate fell to 3.3 percent, and the rental rate rose to $70 PSF.
• The Manhattan Class A sublease vacancy rate rose to 2.1 percent between July and August.

Construction

For the twelve months ending July 2012:

• Building projects (including new, additions and alterations) that started construction in NYC decreased by 3.2 percent and infrastructure (non-building) project starts fell by 6.5 percent from the twelve months ending July 2011.
• Planned space for building project starts rose by 0.9 percent from the same period in 2011.
• 2,475 residential building projects started construction, which is a drop of 2.1 percent from the twelve months ending in July 2011. These starts contained 11,175 units of housing, an increase of 15.9 percent from the same period in 2011.

Tourism, Travel and Transit

Transit Ridership

• Total ridership on MTA subways, trains and buses in July 2012 was 214.5 million, an increase of 3.1 percent from July 2011.
• Subway ridership in July 2012 was 137.0 million, an increase of 4.4 percent from July 2011.

Source: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Air Traffic

• In June 2012, 10.0 million passengers flew into and out of the region's airports, an increase of 3.1 percent from June 2011.
• Domestic air carriers accounted for 6.5 million passengers, a 2.8 percent increase from June 2011.
• 3.5 million passengers traveled with international air carriers in June 2012, a 3.7 percent increase from June 2011.

Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Broadway Ticket Sales

• Total Broadway attendance was approximately 862,100 during the four weeks ending August 26, 2012, up 9.4 percent from the same period last year.
• Broadway revenue during this period was about $85.8 million, up 17.3 percent from last year.
• The large increases in attendance and revenue were due in part to Broadway’s closure during the weekend of Hurricane Irene last year.

Note: Gross revenue and attendance figures may not include all shows

Source: The Broadway League

Hotel Occupancy

• In July 2012, the average daily hotel room rate was $248, a 1.6 percent increase from July 2011.
• Hotel occupancy was 90.1 percent in July 2012, up from 89.0 percent in July 2011.
• The average daily hotel room rate increased the most in lowest-priced hotels (charging under $175 per night).

Source: PKF Consulting