Between 1997 and 2010, the number of manufacturing jobs in New York City declined from 201,200 to 76,300—a loss of 124,900 positions, or 62 percent. The city lost at least 5,000 manufacturing jobs every year during this period.
But since 2010, the city’s manufacturing sector has stopped shedding jobs. At the end of 2013, New York City was home to 76,300 manufacturing jobs, the same total as 2010. And employment in the sector is actually up by 600 jobs since 2011.
Manufacturing has hardly become a major growth engine for New York’s economy. Between 2010 and 2013, when manufacturing employment was flat, the city added 271,000 private sector jobs overall—an 8.6 percent increase. But at a time when so many New Yorkers are struggling to access decent paying jobs, the manufacturing sector’s holding pattern over the past three years is an important development and encouraging for the future.
NYC MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT, 1997-2013
|
---|
Year |
Jobs
(in thousands) |
Change from prior year
(in thousands) |
% change
from prior year |
1997 |
201.2 |
|
|
1998 |
195.9 |
-5.3 |
-2.63% |
1999 |
186.8 |
-9.1 |
-4.65% |
2000 |
176.8 |
-10.0 |
-5.35% |
2001 |
155.5 |
-21.3 |
-12.05% |
2002 |
139.4 |
-16.1 |
-10.35% |
2003 |
126.6 |
-12.8 |
-9.18% |
2004 |
120.8 |
-5.8 |
-4.58% |
2005 |
113.9 |
-6.9 |
-5.71% |
2006 |
106.1 |
-7.8 |
-6.85% |
2007 |
101.0 |
-5.1 |
-4.81% |
2008 |
95.6 |
-5.4 |
-5.35% |
2009 |
81.6 |
-14.0 |
-14.64% |
2010 |
76.3 |
-5.3 |
-6.50% |
2011 |
75.7 |
-0.6 |
-0.79% |
2012 |
76.3 |
0.6 |
0.79% |
2013 |
76.3 |
0.0 |
0.00% |
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job figures are annual totals.