(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
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New York Is Rebounding for the Rich. Nearly Everyone Else Is Struggling. [1]
['Stefanos Chen', 'More About Stefanos Chen']
Date: 2023-09-28
The city has made significant strides. In August, the labor force participation rate was at a record high, and the unemployment rate was 5.3 percent, down from a pandemic peak of over 21 percent in May 2020. But New York has yet to fully recoup the jobs lost since the pandemic, while much of the nation already has, in part because the virus struck the city sooner and businesses, including those tied to hospitality and tourism, remained closed longer, Dr. Parrott said. Other popular entry-level jobs like couriers and home health aides have seen their wages lose ground to inflation.
Charles Lutvak, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, credited the job growth to initiatives like the expansion of youth employment and apprenticeship programs. “But we have more work to do, and we won’t stop until every New Yorker has access to a quality, family-sustaining job,” he said in a statement.
Wage growth has been stunted for many New Yorkers in part because the minimum wage, set at $15 an hour, has not increased since 2019, Dr. Parrott said. Among the 10 largest American cities, five have raised their minimum pay in that period by an average of 25 percent, and four of them have higher minimum wages than New York City.
Many labor groups are pushing for a $21-an-hour minimum wage, which itself could fall short of the cost of living, because the city does not scale pay to inflation, said Gregory Morris, the chief executive of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, an association of work force development groups. Next year, New York State will raise the minimum to $16 an hour in the greater New York City area and $15 statewide. In 2027, the minimum wage will be pegged to inflation.
“This is a working people’s city, as the mayor points out, but I think the question now is, which working people?” Morris asked.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/nyregion/nyc-income-gap-wages.html#:~:text=The%20wealthiest%20fifth%20of%20Manhattanites,the%20data%20for%20The%20Times.
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