New York May Lose 165,000 Jobs on Financial Woes, Official Says

Source: Bloomberg.com

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- New York City may lose as many as 165,000 jobs, including 35,000 in the financial industry, as the impact of the credit crisis spreads throughout the economy, Comptroller William Thompson said.

The forecast, contained in a column Thompson publishes on his Web site, represents an increase of 80,000 from the comptroller's most recent budget report in July, when he also predicted a loss of 25,000 financial services positions.

The higher job-loss estimates ``reflect the spreading of the economic troubles to other industry sectors as the nation slips into a general recession,'' Thompson wrote.

Wall Street, which accounted for 9 percent of New York's tax revenue in 2007, has been upended by the global financial crisis that led to the downfall of New York-based firms Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos., and produced more than $600 billion in losses and writedowns worldwide.

Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimate that high-paying financial industry jobs have a multiplier effect. Each lost securities industry position may eradicate as many as three other jobs in the city and state, according to New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who has also predicted lost employment due to the financial crisis on the same order of magnitude as Thompson.





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