New York City’s full-time government workforce is expected to increase for the first-time year-over-year since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, high turnover and vacancy rates exist at several City agencies. The City should continue efforts to increase and expedite hiring where needed to ensure critical agencies and departments can meet demands and provide quality services to residents.
Food insecurity is increasing in New York, with one-in-nine households (11.3% or 875,000 families) unable to get enough food at some point during 2020 through 2022 because they lacked money or other resources. Nationally, food insecurity increased for the first time in over a decade to 11.2% during 2020 through 2022. With the end of the pandemic, many of the enhancements to federal safety net programs also ended. Additional federal and state efforts are needed to address food insecurity.
Local government sales tax collections in New York State totaled $5.6 billion in the first calendar quarter of 2024, up 1.6 percent (or $87.3 million) compared to the same quarter last year. While this marked the lowest rate of growth since the same quarter in 2021, it is important to note that where were several quarters of under 2 percent growth in the two decades prior to the pandemic. New York City’s 3.2 percent increase in first quarter collections was responsible for nearly all statewide growth.
The size of New York City’s immigrant workforce was flat over nearly a decade. Through 2023, the foreign-born labor market grew 18.5% since 2015 nationally, while New York City’s declined 0.6%, according to data analyzed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, in 2023, New York City’s 1.8 million foreign-born workers made up 44.3% of its total labor force, more than double the national share of 18.6%.
In 2021, New York ranked high among states for business creation; however, some business owners may face impediments to creating a new enterprise. While New York exceeds the nation in the share of businesses that are majority female and minority-owned, they continue to represent less than one-quarter of all owners in the State. Entrepreneurship is vital to the economic health of the State, and ensuring equitable access to the capital and tools for business creation are also important for New York’s future.
Local sales tax collections in New York State increased by 1.6% in February compared to the same month in 2023. Overall, local collections totaled $1.67 billion, up $26.8 million from the same time last year.
Local sales tax collections in New York State increased by 0.3% in January compared to the same month in 2023. Overall, local collections totaled nearly $1.9 billion, up $4.8 million from the same time last year.
For almost 3 million New Yorkers, housing costs constitute more than 30 percent of household income, with 1 in 5 households experiencing a severe cost burden of more than 50 percent of their income going to pay for housing. This report is the third and final report in the “New Yorkers in Need” series. It examines three categories of housing insecurity: high housing costs; physical inadequacy, including overcrowding and substandard conditions; and housing stress, including evictions and foreclosures, which may result in homelessness.
Local government sales tax collections in New York State totaled $23 billion in calendar year 2023, up 4.2 percent (or nearly $919 million) compared 2022. This past year’s growth lagged compared to both 2021 and 2022, when a combination of rising inflation and a surge in taxable sales statewide led to double-digit growth after significant COVID-related declines in 2020. Despite the slowdown, collections returned to growth rates more consistently seen before the pandemic.
New York City housing costs have grown more than 68% over the last decade, the largest increase of selected major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Housing affordability, which considers the incomes of households, has also worsened in New York City over the last decade, as median rent prices, in particular, grew faster than median incomes. Many New Yorkers may continue to be priced out of their preferred neighborhoods without a substantial increase in the supply of affordable housing units for low- and moderate-income households.
