New York City

Measuring Employment Outcomes of Open Streets in New York City

New York City’s Open Streets program, initiated in 2020 to transform streets into public spaces, partly to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped support the recovery of more than 67,000 retail and restaurant jobs between the first and most recent year of operation, though the gains were concentrated in areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn. This report analyzes labor force trends between 2020 and 2024 to understand the extent of how employment growth in Open Street corridors fared against non-Open Street corridors.

DiNapoli: NYC's Open Streets Program Supported Retail and Restaurant Job Recovery in Manhattan, Brooklyn

New York City’s Open Streets program, initiated in 2020 to transform streets into public spaces, partly to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped support the recovery of more than 67,000 retail and restaurant jobs between the first and most recent year of operation, though