The Partnership for New York City, through the NYC Jobs Blueprint initiative, posted a blog item today tracking the rapid growth in New York City’s high tech sector. Some of the key findings include:
- NYC’s high tech employment has grown by 21% since 2006, nearly twice as fast as the nation’s 12% growth.
- 27% of NYC’s tech workers are employed by financial services firms – nearly 40,000 tech professionals.
- Tech jobs in NYC’s healthcare sector have expanded by 90%.
Click here to read the entire blog post or view below.
NYC Is a Growing High Tech Hub
New York City’s high tech employment has grown by 21% since 2006, nearly twice as fast as the nation’s 12% growth in tech jobs. Today, the Partnership estimates that there is almost an equal amount of high tech jobs across the five boroughs as there are securities jobs on Wall Street, with tech having a similar multiplier effect in the local economy.
Just 30% of the city’s tech jobs are at high-tech firms, with the balance scattered among employers that span the city’s legacy industries — finance, media, health, retail and fashion, professional services. New York’s headquarters companies are early adopters of new technologies and, together with high tech startups and IT firms, generate a huge demand for tech-savvy employees.
The financial services sector, which still dominates the regional economy, employs nearly 40,000 tech professionals. Even while downsizing in the period since the 2008-09 recession, most financial firms have ramped up the hiring of tech workers. Cloud computing and big data analytics have contributed to building a local “fintech” sector that has added over 30 new startups since 2007. The Partnership Fund is contributing to this growth via its FinTech Innovation Lab, which supports early stage and growth companies that are developing cutting edge technology products targeted at financial services customers.
Tech growth is also strong in healthcare, with 19 startups contributing to employment levels in the sector that have nearly doubled since 2006. Infrastructure investments such as the Alexandria Life Science Center, Columbia University’s Audubon Business and Technology Center, and the city’s BioBAT Initiative with SUNY Downstate Medical Center at the Brooklyn Army Terminal have provided lab space where cutting-edge medical research is converted into business startups. The Partnership Fund worked with government, industry, and venture funders to establish the NY Digital Health Accelerator and NYC Tech Connect, projects that are contributing to job creation in health IT and the life sciences.
Tech growth is providing a boost to nearly every sector of the economy. The Partnership‘s NYC Jobs Blueprint proposes bringing this job-generating activity to all five boroughs through “Urban Innovation Hubs” and connecting more New Yorkers to the innovation economy through career-oriented tech education.
About the Partnership for New York City
The Partnership for New York City’s mission is to engage the business community in efforts to advance the economy of New York City and maintain the city’s position as the center of world commerce, finance and innovation. Through the Partnership Fund for New York City, the Partnership contributes directly to projects that create jobs, improve economically distressed communities and stimulate new business creation.