Dear New Yorkers,
As we approach the holidays, there are some encouraging numbers in the data. Job growth nationwide picked up in November. While local numbers are flatter, jobs are growing here as well. And there’s some reason to believe this growth, while modest, is broader-based—somewhat less concentrated in health care and social assistance—than it has appeared. Nearly 60% of adults New Yorkers are working, reflecting record high labor force participation.
Tourism has continued to strengthen. Broadway theatre attendance and hotel occupancy rates both reached post-pandemic highs in recent weeks. Meanwhile, office rents, vacancies, attendance, and transit ridership continue to indicate that New York City’s commercial real estate sector has bottomed and begun to recover.
On the other hand, some big clouds loom on the horizon—and one of the biggest is the potential for large federal budget cuts. As we outlined last month in Protecting New York City, the incoming Trump administration poses many risks. In this month’s Spotlight, we offer a deeper dive into the ways federal funding serves New Yorkers. Over $100 billion flows from Washington to New York City. While a chunk flows to the City’s operating budget ($9.6 billion), entities like NYCHA and H+H ($4.5 billion), and our capital budget ($2.6 billion), the vast majority goes directly to individuals for income security programs like Social Security ($25 billion) and Medicare ($22 billion).
We can’t predict what will happen, of course. Trump promised during the campaign not to cut entitlements like Social Security and Medicare—so there is certainly reason to be concerned that the enormous cuts (nearly one-third of the federal budget) that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have promised to make will hit the aid that comes directly to cities and states.
New Yorkers are not helpless, though. Last month, we convened civic, business, labor, religious, and community leaders to discuss how we can best prepare to protect New York City and those who may be targeted by the policies of the incoming Trump Administration.
It’s important to remember, as analysis by New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli shows, that the money that New Yorkers send to Washington in taxes usually exceeds what we collectively receive back in benefits. We’ll be keeping an eye on that balance. It continues to be our tax dollars, our democracy, and our future that are at stake.
With clear eyes on the promising signs, and the frightening ones,
