Highlights

• While the city’s economy continues to grow, the number of New Yorkers receiving cash assistance (also known as “welfare”) is at a 25-year high.
• Subway ridership recovered to 76% of pre-pandemic levels, a new milestone.
• Brooklyn and the health care sector led the city in new job creation in 2024.
• Positive trends in New York City business sentiment and job posting activity indicate a positive near-term hiring outlook.
• Recently released data from the Department of City Planning shows the vacancy rate in the city’s storefronts improved, falling from 11.6 to 11.1% in the past year. One-third of the city’s storefront businesses opened since 2020.

Key Statistics

New York City will likely exceed 2024 job growth projections, buoyed by strong hiring in Brooklyn and the health care sector.

• 4.19 million private sector jobs as of October 2024, the second-highest monthly total on record after 4.196 million jobs in August 2024.
• 64,000 private sector jobs and 6,000 government jobs were added in 2024 through October. If current trends continue, job growth will slightly exceed the city’s estimate earlier in the year that total employment would increase by 71,000 jobs in 2024.
• Health care employers added nearly 65,000 jobs through the first ten months of the year, propelling the sector’s employment to a record high 1.02 million.
  • Health care employment growth has offset job losses in the information, construction, and financial services sectors in 2024.
• Employment in Brooklyn increased 4% over the year ending Q2 2024, the fastest growth among the 369 largest counties in the U.S.
  • Brooklyn added nearly 38,000 jobs during these 12 months, second only to Maricopa, Arizona (+41,600 jobs). Queens ranked third with over 26,000 jobs added.
  • The largest employment increase occurred in Brooklyn’s education and health care sectors, which rose by a combined 37,500 jobs, or 10%.
• 136,000 job postings by New York City employers as of October 2024, up 18% from 116,000 a year ago.
  • Job postings have been increasing steadily since April 2024.

Official estimates confirmed New York City’s economic output increased 2% to a new record of $1.1 trillion in 2023.

Gross city product (GCP) increased fastest in Brooklyn (3.7%) and Queens (3.2%); every borough achieved a new economic output record in 2024 except the Bronx, where GCP remained 2% below 2019 levels.

New York City venture capital funding rebounded to $22 billion in 2024 due partially to investor appetite for artificial intelligence companies.

• After declining 33% in 2023, venture capital (VC) funding increased 25% to over $22 billion in 2024 through early December—well below the record $48 billion raised in 2021 but on par with 2019.
• Artificial intelligence companies headquartered in New York City raised over $6.6 billion in VC funding through early December, second only to the $11.3 billion raised in 2021, per Pitchbook data.

New York City business sentiment surged in Q4 2024, reflecting the city’s economic performance.

• The share of New York City executives (company CEOs, owners, or founders) with positive expectations of business conditions over the next five years improved to 61% in Q4 2024, up from 47% in Q3 2024, according to survey data from Morning Consult’s Intelligence Platform.
• 45% of New York City residents expected their personal financial conditions to improve over the next year as of mid-Q4 2024, a small improvement from 43% in Q3 2024 and a higher level of optimism than the U.S. (39%).
• The overall consumer sentiment index in the metro New York City area was 78.1 in Q3 2024, 8 points ahead of the U.S. index of 70.1, according to the Siena College Research Institute.
  • The index captures consumer optimism about current and future economic conditions; a higher index value represents greater optimism.

Despite near-record employment, the number of New Yorkers receiving cash assistance hit a 25-year high in October.

• Over 800,000 New Yorkers received cash assistance (also known as welfare or public assistance) at some point during the 12 months ending October 2024, up 42%, or 238,000 recipients, from 572,000 during the same period ending October 2019.
  • This means roughly 10% of New Yorkers received cash assistance benefits at some point in the past year.
• 581,000 New Yorkers received cash assistance during the month of October 2024, the most since early 2000, nearly 25 years ago.
  • Includes 216,000 children, up 45% compared to 149,000 in October 2019, meaning there are 67,000 more child recipients today than four years ago.
• About 85% of cash assistance recipients are Black or Hispanic.
• The Bronx accounts for 16% of the city’s population but over one-third (34%) of cash assistance recipients.

Spotlight

New York City’s storefront vacancy rate has declined for four consecutive quarters to 11.1% in Q3 2024, approaching the pre-pandemic rate of 10.5% in Q1 2020. By comparison, a survey of major corridors across the city during the summer of 2020 showed inactivity rates of over 30%. Below are the key findings from a new report by the Department of City Planning, which used visual analysis to assess the occupancy status and tenant type across the city’s ground floor spaces.

Manhattan’s storefront recovery is trending positively but lags that of the other boroughs due partially to increased remote work. Vacancy rates in the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island are below 9%, compared to 14.2% in Manhattan and 11.9% in Brooklyn. Neighborhoods in core Manhattan office areas have the highest vacancy rates, ranging from 20% to 24% in Lower Manhattan and 19% in East Midtown. Foot traffic is still 20% below 2019 levels in these commercial districts.

The industry composition of storefront businesses has shifted away from goods retailers toward food and entertainment businesses. City Planning’s on-the-ground analysis complements the findings from the Partnership’s fashion report: The city experienced a net loss of 920 storefront clothing and accessory retailers since 2000, a 16% decline. About half of this net loss occurred since Q1 2020. In contrast, the city has 1,350 more food, drink, and entertainment businesses today than in early 2020, and the number of restaurants has nearly doubled since 2000.

The report affirms the importance of programs that improve the vibrancy of public spaces in fostering economic growth. For example, storefronts under scaffolding have a nearly 18% vacancy rate, significantly worse than the 11.1% average citywide. The city reported in August 2024 that 173 miles of sidewalk sheds and scaffolding have been removed over the past year in an effort to revitalize public spaces. And privately-owned public spaces and business improvement districts, which deliver services that improve sanitation, safety, and the condition of public spaces, also tend to have lower vacancy rates than immediately surrounding areas.

Additional Indicators

• The region’s airports are on pace for their busiest year ever, with over 122 million passengers carried through the first 10 months of the year, up 1% from the same period in 2023.
• 65 million tourists will visit New York City in 2024—up 2% from 62 million in 2023—and will reach a new record with over 68 million visitors in 2025, according to estimates from New York City Tourism + Conventions.
• The Partnership published a report drawing on analysis from McKinsey & Co. evaluating the health of the city’s fashion industry, which found that the industry lost 50,000 jobs and 14% of economic output in the last decade. Read the full report At a Crossroads: New York City’s Status as a Global Fashion Capital.
• The Partnership’s Q3 2024 Dashboard is live. The Dashboard measures progress or slippage, through data visualizations, in key economic and fiscal measures.