The Expanding State

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/04/the-expanding-state

The Manhattan Institute's E.J. McMahon notices Crain's list of the largest employers in New York City:

In order of full-time equivalent headcount, Crain's ranked employers as follows:

1. City of New York (excl schools) — 152,836
2. NYC Department of Education — 121,255
3. Metropolitan Transportation Authority — 66,240
4. Federal government — 52,800
5. NYC Health and Hospitals Corp. — 36,964
6. State of New York — 26,500

Another 20 percent of large employers were in the health care sector, which is heavily dependent on government subsidies, Crain's noted. Also not counted in the government category was the City of University of New York (CUNY). Adding CUNY and the health care sector to the top six on the list would raise the government and quasi-government share of large employers in the city to more than 70 percent.

The pie chart that runs along with the Crain's piece is particularly horrifying for those who think of New York as a media capital (newspapers, magazines, television, radio, book publishing), a financial capital (investment banks), or a higher education capital (Columbia, NYU). Government jobs made up 50% of the largest employer pie, with media at a mere 2%, communications at 3%, banking and finance at 14%, and higher education at 5%.

The sage Henry Stern likes to say that New York City is getting so expensive that the only ones left who can afford to live here are retired municipal employees. He might be right.

by Editor  |  Apr 13, 2011 at 1:34 pm Related Topics:  Education, New York receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list