Median earnings for full-time working women in New York were 86 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2019, an annual wage gap of $8,821, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. While New York women earn more dollars relative to men than in most other states, women's median earnings continue to lag across occupational groups and other categories.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City particularly hard, causing massive job losses at major employers such as restaurants, hotels and retail stores. These dashboards follow a series of reports released over the past two years tracking economic data and the effect of the pandemic on these critical sectors and will help identify areas of weakness as well as positive developments.
The number of jobs influenced by the green economy in New York exceeded one million in 2019 and 2020. New York’s efforts to promote sustainability not only encourage the creation of new jobs related to clean energy and energy efficiency, but they can also affect employment more broadly, requiring new skills in existing occupations and increasing demand for others. The State must fund educational and workforce development programs to grow the green economy and help bolster New York’s pandemic recovery.
Local government sales tax collections totaling $19.6 billion increased by 19.1%, or $3.1 billion, in 2021 compared to last year. This was the highest annual increase on record after a historic low in 2020 when local sales tax collections declined by 10%. Annual growth in 2019 was 4.7%.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many businesses in retail trade, restaurant, and arts, entertainment and recreation closed. This report examines the damage the pandemic has inflicted on those sectors, and considers the distribution of federal funds for businesses in the City, particularly for businesses in low- and moderate-income communities and in historically underutilized business zones.
Statewide local sales tax collections grew by 17.5% in November compared to the same month in 2020. Overall, local collections totaled almost $1.6 billion, up $235 million from November of last year. Collections for the month were also notably robust when compared to pre-pandemic levels, up 9.2% (or $133 million) from November of 2019.
Flushing, and the surrounding neighborhoods that make up the greater Flushing area, enjoyed outsized employment and business growth from 2000 until Queens became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local challenges that existed before the pandemic, such as affordable housing and broadband access, have made recovery more difficult, but key positive indicators such as job recovery are reasons for optimism.
Businesses in New York were more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 than in the rest of the nation, and the negative impacts on small businesses with less than 500 employees persist. In addition, small businesses report facing new challenges with hiring difficulties and with supply chains. Nevertheless, one in five small businesses reported a return to normal operations in October 2021, there have been significant improvements in several sectors, and applications for new businesses are surging, which bodes well for the economic recovery.
Local sales tax collections in New York grew by 12.9% in October compared to a year ago, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced. Collections for all localities totaled more than $1.5 billion, up $175 million from October 2020.
Plummeting sales tax collections were widespread, leaving counties, cities and some other local governments short by about $327 million compared to last year. Although the first quarter of 2020 was relatively strong, March sales tax collections had already begun to show the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown–a decrease of 3.7 percent statewide with the largest declines downstate. The April figures show shrinking revenues for local governments throughout the state.
