Rise in desk jobs keeps vacancy rate stable

A total of 14,800 desk jobs were added in the city since the year began, including 6,500 just in April, Crain’s reported. The number of office jobs was also on the rise last month, according to figures released today by Cushman & Wakefield. The total number of people employed in the financial, professional business services and media sectors in New York City reached 1.16 million in April, an increase of 6,500 jobs from March, marking the largest one-month increase since October 2007, when
there was an increase of 7,500 jobs. “This marks the fourth month in a row of increase, which is certainly a much more robust and sustained iincrease in this cycle than anyone could have anticipated,” said Ken McCarthy, managing director of New York Area Research for Cushman & Wakefield, who analyzed the data. The growth has helped to increase demand for office space and keep the vacancy rate relatively stable, despite the addition of 1 million square feet to the Manhattan
inventory with the recent completion of 11 Times Square. At the end of April, the Manhattan office vacancy rate totaled 11.5 percent, up slightly from 10.6 percent a year ago, but down from 11.6 percent at the end of March. [Crain’s]