NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) says the state’s unemployment levels will eventually recover from his handling of the pandemic – after the next presidential election.
“New York State employment is not expected to reach its pre-pandemic peak until 2025,” Cuomo says in his annual budget plan.
The news comes following the massive loss of jobs New York experienced during Cuomo’s COVID-19 lockdown policies.
Cuomo lays out his bad news in his “Economic Revenue and Outlook” outline submitted this week.
With the onset of colder autumn weather, and virus-safe practices such as outdoor dining no longer feasible in many areas of the State, the labor market recovery has since slowed to a trickle, as the State added only 29,500 total jobs and 36,300 private sector jobs in November. With COVID-19 transmission intensifying across both the State and the nation, job growth is expected to slow even further over the winter months until vaccines become widely available. Job growth of 5.4 percent is now projected for 2021, following a decline of 9.9 percent for 2020. Private sector job growth of 6.2 percent is projected for 2021, following an estimated decline of 11.1 percent for 2020. These projections compare to national declines of 5.7 percent for total employment and 6.2 percent for private employment for 2020, followed by growth of 2.7 percent for total employment and 3.4 percent for private employment for 2021. New York State employment is not expected to reach its pre-pandemic peak until 2025.
It was just after the recent presidential election that Cuomo announced on Twitter, “We must reopen this economy.”
H/T The Blaze