NYC Unemployment Could Hit 22 Percent By June, Comptroller Says

NEW YORK CITY — More than one in five of New York City workers will lose their jobs by the end of June because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Comptroller Scott Stringer predicts.

New York City could see 900,000 New Yorkers newly jobless this quarter, which would be a record-breaking unemployment rate of 22 percent, the comptroller's report estimates.

"We’re facing the deepest recession since the Great Depression, marked by historic and rapid job losses," Stringer said. "In a crisis this severe, the federal government must step up and deliver relief to New York."

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The yearly unemployment rate will be 12 percent with hotels, food services and retail taking the biggest hits, the analysis shows.

Stringer's estimate nearly doubles the 475,000 Mayor Bill de Blasio predicts will lose their jobs (an estimate that contributed to his prediction 2 million New Yorkers will become food insecure.)

The Comptroller — who criticized de Blasio’s "wartime" $89.3 billion budget for relying too much on reserve funds — called on the city to tighten its belt and make strict cuts.

"As a City, we need to comb through our budget for savings, because every penny counts, and every effort must be made to protect our most vulnerable," Stringer said.

The Comptroller also criticized the federal government for providing New York City — which has seen more than 170,000 novel coronavirus cases as of Monday — just $1.99 billion in aid.

That amounts to $8,530 per COVID-19 patient in New York City, the comptroller said. Montana, with 457 cases, received about $2.7 million per patient in federal aid.

"The federal government must step up and deliver relief to New York – the economic engine for the nation," Stringer said.

"Every year New York taxpayers put more into the federal coffers than New York receives in federal dollars, and it is unacceptable for Congress to be passing the buck– instead of passing robust local aid."

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