New York’s “weak” jobs recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is worse than previously predicted, Gov. Kathy Hochul revealed in a sobering $227 billion budget address Wednesday.
Hochul said the Empire State won’t fully recover all its job losses tied to the pandemic until 2027 — seven years after the COVID-19 outbreak first ravaged the Empire State.
Last year, Hochul predicted all the pre-pandemic jobs would be recovered by 2026.
The previous year in 2021, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo anticipated all the pre-pandemic jobs would be recovered in 2025.
Hochul said she moved the goal post because of the slower than anticipated pace of the jobs recovery, which significantly trails the nation as a whole.
The analysis, prepared by Hochul’s budget division, said the state had regained just 86.5 percent of its pandemic-related job losses by the end of 2022.
“However, the nation had already recovered all its pandemic-related job losses by August 2022,” the $227 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year starting April 1 said.
“Following an estimated growth of 5.0 percent in 2022, the State’s labor market outlook remains weak. The State’s employment is projected to grow by only 0.7 percent in 2023, with private sector employment growing by 0.8 percent.”
The gloomy jobs forecast blamed the slowing global economy, the stock market’s volatile performance, and an “impending national recession” following the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes last year to bring inflation under control.
“As a result of the projected weaker growth, the State is not expected to return to pre-pandemic employment levels until 2027,” Hochul’s budget forecast said.
The forecast doesn’t mention other factors that may impact the lagging jobs picture, including New Yorkers who’ve fled the state, particularly those who can work remotely from anywhere and no longer have to physically be at a New York office or address to be employed.
Critics also have complained that New York’s severe lockdowns during the worst of the pandemic made it harder for businesses to survive.
