Jobs growth soaring in city

ALBANY — The Big Apple has been abundantly fruitful when it comes to job growth, according to a report out Thursday.

Between 2009 and 2017, the city added a record 702,200 jobs, a higher number than was created during any other economic expansion, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli said.

The city’s job growth outpaced the rest of the nation.

“New York City is undergoing the largest and longest expansion since World War II,” DiNapoli said. “Employment is at a record level and more jobs are being created in the boroughs outside of Manhattan than ever before.”

Overall, employment in New York City increased by 18.9% between 2009 and 2017, pushing the total jobs level to 4.4 million by 2017. It surpassed the prerecession record by more than 600,000. The nation and New York State had job gains of 11.5% during the same period.

Unlike previous expansions, however, the job growth during this boom was not dominated by Wall Street, DiNapoli said. Health care, business services and tourism-related businesses were the driving forces.

Nearly half of the job gains took place outside of Manhattan, with Brooklyn showing the fastest rate of private sector job growth in the five boroughs at 38%, followed by Queens at 24%, Manhattan at 20%, the Bronx at 15% and Staten Island at 14%.