New Data Released By The Partnership for New York City Reveals Cost By Industry
The Partnership for New York City, the city’s leading business organization, today released data showing the economic impact a NJ Transit rail strike would have on New York City employers. A strike is expected if railroad and rail union officials do not reach a contract agreement by March 13th. The Partnership estimates that every hour commuters are delayed in getting to work due to NJ Transit rail being out of service will cost New York City employers $5.9 million.
According to NJ Transit, a strike would displace 105,000 commuters. Approximately 40,000 would be accommodated by bus and other means, and the rest would need to find alternative modes of commuting. NJ Transit projects that many commutes will be delayed by more than an hour.
“A transit strike is among the most expensive events that can happen to New York City,” said Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City. “Over 100,000 workers rely on NJ Transit to commute in and out of the city each day. A strike inconveniences these workers and results in significant losses for their employers.”
The Partnership’s calculation is based on the average earnings of workers in each sector who commute into New York City each day via NJ Transit rail lines. The breakdown of how much a one hour delay would cost each sector is listed below:
| Sector | Cost per hour of delay |
|---|---|
| Financial Services | $1,963,913 |
| Professional Services | $1,481,458 |
| Media/Publishing | $609,413 |
| Retail | $273,365 |
| Health Care | $248,603 |
| Manufacturing | $213,609 |
| Education | $182,601 |
| Wholesale | $178,320 |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $164,787 |
| Construction | $155,622 |
| Services | $136,619 |
| Government | $136,116 |
| Transportation | $66,544 |
| Real Estate | $62,633 |
| Social Services | $31,376 |
| Utilities | $21,629 |