The city’s economy saw a huge boom over the last four months, according to the city comptroller.
Scott Stringer’s quarterly economic update report released Thursday found that New York’s real GDP increased by a 4% annual rate, which is half a percentage point greater than the rest of the United States.
The comptroller said there were many factors behind the surge: “Venture capital investment in our region’s burgeoning start-up economy has surged, the real estate market has continued its strong pace and tourism remains on an upswing,” he said in a statement.
The report said the city saw a record gain of 47,000 jobs and unemployment went down to 7.3%. This was the lowest unemployment rate since the end of 2008, when the recession started, according to Stringer.
Despite the progress in job growth, the comptroller said he is concerned that it was not helping the middle class.
“We need to continue to find the on-ramps to opportunity for every New Yorker and emphasize the importance of educating our children so that they can fully participate in the 21st century economy in our own great city,” he said.