Six New York City construction workers died from falls in 2010, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were 68 fatal, work-related injuries in New York City in total last year, an increase of five from an all-time low of just 63 in 2009. Nationwide, workplace fatalities totaled 4,547 last year, according to the government’s preliminary statistics, a similar figure to the 2009 total, which was 4,551.

While homicides accounted for 15 of the 68 fatal injuries in New York City (in the early days of the survey in 1992, homicides accounted for around 119), self-inflicted injuries accounted for 15 deaths. The number of fatal falls to a lower level rose from five in 2009 to 13 in 2010. Almost half of those falls, six, happened in the construction industry. -- Katherine Clarke [more]

Click chart for larger version (Chart source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Rents in New York City and Northern New Jersey saw their smallest annual increase since 1994, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, climbing just 1.6 percent between January 2010 and the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was at 10 percent in the area over the same time period. Housing costs in the region have ramped up far more rapidly than other living expenses for the last quarter century, according to the report. Since the early 1980s, housing costs have increased by more than 300 percent, compared to food expenses which rose 125 percent and clothing, which rose less than 20 percent. Household energies on the other hand have decreased by 1.6 percent over the same time period. TRD [more]