Photo Courtesy of Comptroller Stringer’s Office
Comptroller Stringer called the PAFR “an indispensable part of our budget reporting.”
By Forum Staff
New York City saw its eighth-consecutive year of job gains and the lowest unemployment rate on record in Fiscal Year 2018, according to an analysis recently released by City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The City added 76,600 private-sector jobs in FY 2018, a gain of 2 percent, according to this year’s Popular Annual Financial Report. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent in FY 2018, the lowest rate on record; the labor-force participation rate rose to a record high of 60.9 percent; and the employment-to-population ratio rose to 58.3 percent, the highest on record.
Additionally, unemployment rates improved in all five boroughs, falling to 3.5 percent in Queens; 5.4 percent in the Bronx; 4.1 percent in Brooklyn; 3.6 percent in Manhattan; and 4 percent in Staten Island. These are record lows for each of Gotham’s boroughs in more than a decade, Stringer noted.
In addition to the aforementioned record gains in labor, this year’s PAFR boasts plenty of positive information on the city economy, including revenue. Overall, the City brought in about $89 billion in revenues in FY 2018, which comes from two major sources: program revenues, such as grants, and general revenues, such as taxes. In FY 2018, general revenues were almost $60 billion, an increase of $3.3 billion from FY 2017. The single greatest source for the increase was real estate taxes, which totaled over $26 billion, the comptroller reported. Program revenue accounted for nearly $29 billion, an increase of $108 million from the previous year, primarily from grants received for education programs in the form of state and federal aid.
The PAFR is a complementary guide to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Stringer explained, later characterizing it as an important tool, presenting critical information on the City’s revenues, expenses, budget, and capital projects in 31 easy-to-understand pages with dozens of explanatory graphs, charts, and images to help everyday New Yorkers understand the City budget.
“The budget impacts everyone in New York City, which is why we work to make these critical numbers as accessible as possible. We started this PAFR report just four years ago, and it’s become an indispensable part of our budget reporting,” the comptroller added. “With New Yorkers more engaged in local government than ever before, I encourage all New Yorkers to take a look—because our city is complex, large, and these numbers affect all of our day-to-day lives.”
