The New York City real estate industry’s employment gains continue to be offset by big job losses in the construction industry, according to an employment report released today by Eastern Consolidated that placed the former among the city’s biggest gainers in 2011 and the latter among the city’s biggest job losers. Overall 500 new real estate jobs were added in November bringing the year’s total count to 2,900 new jobs, while the construction industry lost 700 jobs last month bringing the year-to-date loss to 3,200 jobs.
New York City as a whole added about 9,000 jobs in November, thanks largely to retailers loading up on staff for the holiday shopping season. The retail sector employed 6,100 new people in November, but the Eastern Consolidated noted that these jobs tend to be temporary. More permanent gains were made by the social services industry, which added 2,900 jobs, and membership organizations, which boosted their workforce by 1,500 jobs. Both segments are closely tied to non-profit organizations, which have had an uneven year in terms of employment.
Meanwhile, the public sector lost about 1,000 jobs in November.
Eastern Consolidated said the report was marred by 14 private sector industries posting a loss in job numbers and two more showing no growth. The firm tracks 30 such industries overall. Still, since the end of 2010 New York City has gained 49,300 jobs, and has now recovered 59 percent of the 137,900 jobs it lost between April 2008 and September 2009. That compares favorably to the nation as a whole, which has regained just 28 percent of the jobs it lost during that timeframe. — Adam Fusfeld