Maloney asks about current green jobs estimate; Jung gives economic snapshot and methodology
Maloney asks for the current estimate of green jobs and growth rate. Jung gives an economic snapshot showing unemployment down to 5.4%, 44,500 private sector jobs added over the past year. He explains the GEEP defined the green economy across eight sectors and 21 subsectors, and that the 400,000 projection is contingent on four factors. He notes 70% are transitioning jobs that don't lend themselves to year-by-year tracking.
Digging into the numbers, the plan set the goal of 400,000 jobs up from 130 at the release.
So what is the current estimate of green jobs in the city today?
And what is the growth rate that you've seen?
Thank you, Chair, for the question.
I wanted to first start by kind of emphasizing some key takeaways from today's economic snapshot that the EDC just released.
Three key takeaways there.
Unemployment is down for the third straight month to 5.4%.
New York City has added 44,500 private sector jobs over the past year, a 1.1 increase, which is faster than the national growth of 0.5% over the same period,
and that the broader New York City metro area added about 17,300 jobs in May and leads all U.S.
Metros with
48,600 jobs added over the past year.
So I think those stats really underscore the importance of EDC's work to diversify the economy and give some good light about the state of our local economy in particular now.
Like I mentioned before, the Just Transition creates a big opportunity for us
to advance economic justice and create economic opportunities for everyday New Yorkers.
To seize the economic opportunities that it affords, we, through the Green Economy Action Plan, did a couple of things.
The first one was to define what the green economy actually is.
It may be surprising, but there isn't a national consensus on what constitutes the green economy, so we defined that.
Consists of eight sectors and 21 subsectors.
And relatedly, we use a Jeep to size and forecast what might be the potential for New York City to host
400,000 green jobs by 2040, which I will say is not a commitment, but a projection and a forecast.
Could you repeat the number?
Sorry.
I'm sorry?
Could you repeat the number?
400,000 jobs.
Oh, you said that.
Yeah, that's right.
And that 400,000 jobs is contingent on four key factors.
One is local, state, and federal climate policies.
The second is public investments, particularly from the federal government.
And then three, private investments, and then four, shifting consumer preferences.
And so as you stated in your opening remarks, when we released the plan, there was 133,000 green jobs.
And 70% of those jobs are transitioning into the green economy.
I mentioned that in particular because the data does not lend itself to year by year
tracking.
It is difficult, for example, to understand when a financing consultant will do more green economy work.