With Space at a Premium, City's Unemployment Lowest in More than a Decade

NEW YORK CITY-Despite predictions made in Cushman & Wakefield’s November 2000 real estate and economic forecast released earlier this week that “Midtown vacancy should begin to increase in 2001,” the city’s latest job growth numbers show this prediction may have been premature. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani responded publicly this morning to the New York State Department of Labor’s employment figures. The mayor says the job growth rate continues to rise and the prognosis is good for the city’s economy.

“New York City is on pace for another record year in job creation,” says Giuliani. “With the creation of an additional 7,400 jobs last month, this is more great news for our city’s economy and further proof that New York City’s economic renaissance continues to surge.”

In October 2000 there were 89,200 more private sector jobs than in October 1999. The city had lost 380,000 jobs in the recession of the early part of the last decade, but has created almost 440,000 since 1994. This 60,000 job gain in the last six years has been the major contributing factor in the space crunch, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s own report. The question then is whether or not the growth rate can at least hold steady, if not maintain its climb in what has been described repeatedly by many analysts as a slowing economy.

The mayor points to the fall of the city’s unemployment rate from 5.6% in September to 5.4% last month. This is the lowest unemployment rate in the city in more than a decade. The city’s unemployment rate in December 1993 was 10.2%.

With record highs continuing through October when the market began to look grim, there is a good chance that New York truly will continue to succeed. This of course is good news for owners, and tough news for tenants looking for an easing of the soaring rental rates.