Need a job? Head to Brooklyn.
State Controller Thomas DiNapoli reported Friday that Brooklyn is booming when it comes to job growth — with employment since the end of the Great Recession growing faster in the borough than the rest of the city, the state and the nation.
“It’s an exciting time for Brooklyn with record employment, business growth and a budding tech sector,” DiNapoli said.
Private sector employment grew by 4.4% last year alone, nearly twice as fast as the city overall, DiNapoli reported. Unemployment has also fallen to a record low of 4.2% as of April.
Since 2009, Brooklyn has added 172,600 private sector jobs, far more than the 1,400 it lost during the recession, the report found. The job growth was nearly four times bigger than the borough’s second strongest expansion between 1992 and 2000.
The borough also boasted 61,300 businesses in 2017, an increase of 32% since the end of the recession in 2009 and the most since at least 1975. Brooklyn gained businesses faster than any of the other five boroughs and the city at large, which posted a growth rate of 17%.
Much of Brooklyn’s business growth came from small business, with nearly three-quarters having fewer than five employees and 84% fewer than 10 employees.
Driving the growth was the technology sector, with 57% growth since 2009. The sector reached a record of 9,800 jobs in 2017, with an average salary of $92,900.
“Brooklyn is also home to world-class cultural and academic institutions, which play an important role in the local economy and in attracting new residents,” DiNapoli said. “While there are still challenges that need to be addressed, including poverty and a shortage of affordable housing, this report shows that the efforts of Brooklyn’s elected leaders, business community and civic groups are paying off.”
