Jobs returning, but ever so slowly

With the state now seemingly on the other side of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s still taking a while for the economy to catch up — especially in New York City, where improvement in the unemployment rate continues to lag the rest of New York, and the country.

Unemployment in the city was 9.8 percent in May, compared to 7 percent in the rest of New York’s metro areas. It is — by far — the highest of these urban areas, but then again this is still coming down a long way from the 20.2 percent unemployment reported a year ago, when the pandemic was still near its height.

The Bronx is a primary factor in New York City’s struggle to get back to work, with unemployment rates standing at 13.5 percent.

It’s the only county with double-digit unemployment besides Brooklyn’s Kings County, which has 10 percent unemployment.

Queens isn’t far behind with 9.7 percent unemployment, while Staten Island reports 8.5 percent, and Manhattan 7.5 percent, according to the state’s labor department.

Still, people are getting back to work. Last year at this time, more than 136,000 people were out of work in the Bronx, racking up the state’s worst unemployment rate at 24.6 percent. Today, that number has dropped significantly to just under 81,000 jobless.

The IRS was good to NYC this year

Who got the biggest tax refunds this past year? It looks like the fine taxpayers in New York City where, according to SmartAsset, the average refund topped $4,400.

Westchester County was ranked second in the statewide list at $3,680, while Rockland refunds averaged just under $3,500.

There were more than 540,000 refunds issued in the city, meaning those returns alone provided a $2.4 billion boost to the local economy.

Originally published June 24, 2021