Press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Walter Fields
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Tracy Munford
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(646) 483-6804

City's Record Low Unemployment Rate Belies Continued Areas of Weakness

CSS Reports:
No Recovery for Youth
Black Men Have Yet to Fully Regain Employment Lost in Recession

New York, NY, February 26, 2007 -- Against the backdrop of record low unemployment in New York City, a new report issued by the Community Service Society of New York (CSS) reveals that certain city residents remain severed from the labor market."Unemployment and Joblessness in New York City, 2006" examines the labor market during the period 2000-2006. The report details the extent to which young people, age 16 to 24, and Black and Hispanic men have not enjoyed the fruits of the city's economic recovery.

Though New York City is experiencing its lowest unemployment rate in recent memory, the recovery has bypassed youth. While there was a steep rise in jobholding among older New Yorkers age 55 to 64, and an increase among seniors 65 and older, young people experienced just the opposite. According to the report, not only has there not been a decline in the teen unemployment rate since a high of 28.7 percent during the recent recession, just 34.6 percent of 16 to 24 year old city residents were holding a job in 2006. The job gains among city residents above age 55 were offset by a 9.5 percentage point plunge in the share of young people age 16 to 24 that are employed.

The report also sheds light on the dilemma facing Black and Hispanic men. White males have recouped all of the jobs they lost in the recent recession; their employment-population ratio (share of the population employed) was 77.8 percent in 2000 and 2006. The same cannot be said for Black and Hispanic males in the city, two groups that have not made up for their recession related job losses. The data does indicate their employment rates have improved since 2003, a gain that lags white males but is not inconsequential. Still, their employment-population ratios declined 3.7 and 2.2 percent respectively since 2000.

Part of the difficulty that Black men face in the city labor market is their location in it. In 2000 government, along with the next top four private sector industries, employed 60.5 percent of Black men. While the top five industries where Black men are employed accounted for 55.4 percent of all the jobs lost in New York from 2000 to 2003, they captured only 36.4 percent of the city's job growth from 2003 to 2006.

While much attention is given to the unemployment rate, it fails to paint a full picture of how well certain groups are faring in the city's labor market because it only captures the joblessness of persons who are actively seeking work. "It must be understood," stressed David Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society, "that there is a fundamental difference between unemployment and joblessness. The former entails those individuals, available for and actively seeking work during the survey period. The latter comprise all those who are not employed. And it is joblessness that still haunts youth and Black and Hispanic men in New York City."

By comparing data from 2000 and 2006,"Unemployment and Joblessness in New York City, 2006" illustrates this important difference. For example, in 2000 and 2006 a statistically identical proportion (56.5 percent and 56.4 percent) of residents 16 years and older were employed. A slightly smaller proportion (2.9 percent vs. 3.4 percent) was unemployed in 2006 and a slightly larger share of the population (40.7 percent vs. 40.1 percent) was not in the labor force (neither employed nor unemployed) that year than 2000. By adding the unemployed and those not in the labor force, a statistically identical share of the population was jobless in 2006 and 2000, 43.6 percent compared to 43.5 percent. The difference in unemployment rates between 2006 and 2000 masks equality in joblessness for the two years.

The report also confirms the value of education in relation to employment, showing that the unemployment rates fall as levels of educational attainment rise. City residents without a high school degree had a 6.5 percent unemployment rate in 2006. In contrast, the unemployment rate for New Yorkers with a bachelor degree or higher was 2.2 percent. Although the gap in the jobholding rate between the least and most educated is greatest among women, men with less than a high school degree have yet to fully recover and reach their pre-recession rate of jobholding.

A further culprit is wages that have not rebounded for workers at the bottom of the wage ladder. They have not regained their prior peak reached in 2001. The report notes an increase in wage rates between 2005 and 2006 but real wages for workers at the bottom and in the middle of the wage ladder fell 3.3 percent and 3.2 percent respectively.

Despite the present predicament, policy makers have an opportunity to intervene with corrective action. "We have the means to fix the imperfections in the labor market through public policy," suggested Mark Levitan, Ph.D., the report's author and Senior Policy Analyst at CSS, "For one, we can create an Earned Income Tax Credit for young workers who are younger than 25 and with no qualifying child and workers who reach age 19 during the tax year and are no longer claimed as a dependent child by another tax filer. Another possible measure is a city-based Growth and Opportunity Trust Fund to increase money for workforce development. The state could also create more apprenticeship opportunities to connect youth to living wage jobs. These are but a few of the solutions we have at our disposal."

To read and download the full report, "Unemployment and Joblessness in New York City, 2006" go to the website -- www.cssny.org -- and locate the report under Research & Advocacy in the left column navigation.

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