The economic, social and budgetary fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City has been unprecedented, while the loss of life has been unimaginable. Restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the disease triggered a national recession. In New York City, job losses in March and April were the largest since the Great Depression.

New York City has been the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The economic, social and budgetary impacts have been unprecedented, while the loss of life has been unimaginable.

After losing more than 1.9 million jobs in March and April, New York State saw steady gains, averaging over 174,000 jobs in each of the following five months. 

Total employment in New York State fell in March, and again—much more sharply—in April, with a combined loss of more than 1.9 million jobs.

New York State’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent in September, marking the first time the rate has been below 10 percent since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While all states have lost employment since the COVID-19 pandemic struck earlier this year, New York surpasses almost every other in both number and percentage of job losses. 

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.