New York City Has Completely Failed To Recover From The Pandemic

New York City Has Completely Failed To Recover From The Pandemic

Bronson Winslow on September 14, 2022

New York City has failed to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years since it began. With over 176,000 jobs still not filled, the city has had the slowest recovery of any major city, according to The New York Times.

Though the city’s unemployment rate is high at 6.1%, near double the national average, most employers reported that they are struggling to find in-person employees, the NYT reported, citing employment data. Since February 2020, the workforce has declined by 300,000 people, the NYT reported.

Many people have fled the city following the start of the pandemic as New York implemented strict COVID-19 restrictions, including lockdowns, vaccine mandates and mask requirements.

#America‘s true #unemployment rate!
A person who is looking for a full-time job that pays a living wage – but who can’t find one – is unemployed. If you accept that definition, the true unemployment rate in the U.S. is a stunning 26.1% #MAGA2020https://t.co/5aiWY9t6Kp pic.twitter.com/hDjHCg955k

— StarBoy (@StarboyHK) October 14, 2020

The exodus of workers, paired with a decline in young adults entering the workforce, hurt the hospitality and retail industries necessary for tourism and travel, the NYT Reported. New York City is the leading tourism destination with over 14 million international arrivals per year, Statista reported, yet without hospitality and retail workers, it is hard for business to stay above water.

New York City’s need for workers should help the unemployment issue in the city, yet even if all 176,000 jobs were filled, unemployment numbers would remain relatively high.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.