NYC’S Unsettled COVID-19 Era Labor Market: The Case for an Active Labor Market Policy

This report combines an analysis of the current state of New York City’s changing labor market with a survey and examination of the city’s workforce system – the vast array of agencies, training programs, and support services designed to help jobseekers find work and careers. Unlike many cities and the nation overall, New York City has yet to recover from pandemic-induced job loss, with a particularly severe impact on lower-income workers of color and working parents. What is needed is an active labor market policy that takes a comprehensive approach, plans and coordinates across the four branches to connect with workers and businesses, education institutions and training providers, and identifies and builds many more career pathways and the ladders and supports needed to help workers climb those ladders. And that needs to be coupled with public and private policies to raise wages and job quality and to encourage and support businesses in adapting to a regime of better wages and jobs.