Six months into the COVID-19 recession, New Yorkers working in lower-paid sectors continue to suffer a disproportionate share of job losses statewide and especially in New York City.
While New York State has regained more than one in four of the jobs it lost in March and April, the unprecedented scale of losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic leaves a daunting path ahead for the State to climb back to pre-recession employment levels. For New York City, the picture is even more troubling.
New York State’s total employment count hit an all-time high of more than 9.8 million in February, reflecting net gains of nearly 2 million jobs since April 1996.
Nearly three-quarters of New York State small businesses received assistance in recent months through the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to Census Bureau survey data for the week ending June 27.
Approved payments to New York recipients for Unemployment Insurance totaled $32.1 billion from March 1 through July 17, with steep increases in payments following the onset of the pandemic.
As was widely reported, New York’s unemployment rate has soared upward in recent months, with May's 14.5 percent nearly four times the 3.7 percent in February. But that rate is only one measure of the impact of lost jobs.
The 2019-20 fiscal year brought the convergence of two dramatically different periods to New York State. The nation’s longest recorded economic expansion continued to generate overall job growth through most of the fiscal year before finally ending in February, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced severe limits on business activity and significantly impacted the State’s economy.
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.
State Fiscal Year 2020-21 was another productive year for the Office of Unclaimed Funds, returning $400 million to rightful owners.
In order to ensure contractors doing business with the New York State are paid timely, Article 11-A of State Finance Law prescribes timeframes for agencies to prepare and submit vouchers to the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) for review and approval before payment.
