Although official unemployment in New York City is 10.1 percent, a closer looks reveals an underlying complexity to the story. Rates of unemployment vary greatly across the city. Last month, the Fiscal Policy Institute released a report, New York City in the Great Recession: Divergent Fates by Neighborhood and Race and Ethnicity (PDF), investigating further.
Here are some numbers, first by neighborhood. Unemployment in Manhattan’s Upper East and West Sides is 5.1 percent. Brooklyn’s East New York stands at 19.2 percent. The South and Central Bronx have unemployment levels at 15.7 percent.
Now turning to unemployment rates by ethnicity, white non-Hispanics are experiencing an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent. 15.7 percent for black, non-Hispanic, and 11.8 percent for Hispanics. The Fiscal Policy Institute reports that unemployment is 6.1 percent for their Asian and other category.
The New York Times has a graphic detailing unemployment across the city.
Visit here for the interactive version of this image.
The current economic crisis has highlighted once again our interconnectedness as a nation and as a people—the fact that we’re all in this together seeking economic security and opportunity. Economic recovery policies offer a chance to ensure that our most vulnerable and historically overlooked groups and communities are included in any recovery plans. Such plans can serve all Americans fairly and effectively, or they can create and perpetuate unfairness and inequality based on race, gender, or other aspects of who we are. It is up to all of us to ensure that these investments help all Americans by calling for appropriate implementation and monitoring of funds.
The current recovery process is an opportunity to prepare us as a country for the 21st century global economy. Any economic recovery policy should not only jump-start the economy in the short-term, but also invest in lasting opportunity for all.
Visit The Opportunity Agenda website for more.