How virus destroyed jobs in city

The COVID outbreak led to the loss of nearly one in five payroll jobs in Manhattan and Queens, and to a similarly jarring loss of employment in the rest of the city, according to recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the 12 months ending in June, employment dropped 18.8% in Manhattan and 18.2% in Queens, the feds found. It decreased 15.7% on Staten Island, 14.6% in Brooklyn and 11.5% in the Bronx.

The job loss came as the authorities shut down restaurants, entertainment venues and many other businesses deemed “nonessential” starting in March. New York City fared worse than the country as a whole, where employment decreased 9.4% from June 2019 to June 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The stats don’t reflect the return of jobs as Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio initiated a phased reopening of the city starting in the summer, but shed light on the devastation the pandemic wrought upon the economy.

The data “confirms that Manhattan has been hit really hard in terms of job loss and that’s because the restaurant sector and hotels have been so devastated and the whole performing arts and entertainment sectors,” economist James Parrott, head of the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, told the Daily News.

“A lot of those jobs are concentrated in Manhattan, though the economic effect of that is felt around the city because a lot of the people who live in the [outer] boroughs work in Manhattan,” he added.

Parrott noted that the official figures rely on payroll data, meaning freelancers who lost work during the pandemic weren’t counted.

Recent months have seen some jobs come back, though the pace is slowing down. The unemployment rate for the New York City region fell from 13% in October to 12.1% in November, according to the state Department of Labor. The national unemployment rate was much lower — 6.7% — last month.