New York City’s private sector shed roughly 30,000 jobs in just two months, according to a new report by City Comptroller Mark Levine, with the sharpest declines in leisure and hospitality and finance.
A city that depends on tourism and serves as the country’s financial hub is shedding jobs in those sectors. If that concerns you, you're not alone.
Levine wrote that employment “has hit a wall,” noting that leisure and hospitality alone lost 7,700 positions in September and is down 17,000 over the past year despite a relatively strong tourism season. The finance sector, a major tax-revenue generator, shrank by nearly 6,000 jobs in the same month, and the city’s private sector, excluding health care and social assistance, is down about 32,000 positions compared with a year earlier.
Levine described the figures as “concerning” across the board.
The data arrive as Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to push a “tax the rich” agenda and expanded sanctuary-city measures that business groups say add uncertainty for employers already trying to fend off high operating costs.
30K private sector jobs gone in 2 months, and Mamdani's agenda hasn't even fully kicked in yet but here are the results. You can't vilify the people who build companies and then act surprised when they move them to Miami, Dallas, or Nashville. Brace yourself New York.
— Gianno Caldwell (@GiannoCaldwell) October 23, 2026
Business owners and industry leaders interviewed by the New York Post largely blamed City Hall’s policy priorities and the burdens that have grown under the Mamdani administration for the job losses.
Upper East Side bar owner Sam Musovic, who immigrated from Montenegro and started as a dishwasher, told the paper that produce costs have doubled, eggs have doubled, and rent has climbed.
“I mean, the American dream is kind of dying, unfortunately,” Musovic said.
Chef Dan Kluger of the now-closed Loring Place cited real-estate taxes that became “unbearable,” insurance spikes after COVID, Con Ed bills that jumped from around $8,000 to more than $14,000 a month, and a 38 percent health insurance increase this year.
Restaurant operator George Tenedios said permitting now takes 10 to 15 weeks instead of the roughly four weeks common two years ago. Red tape from a red administration.
“If [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani put things in place to make things easier for small business owners, I haven’t experienced it,” he fumed.
One of the worst places to do business and own a home is NYC
— Miriam Riviera (@miriam_riviera) October 23, 2026
Multiple owners said finished spaces sat empty for months while they waited on city approvals. They didn’t hesitate to tie those delays directly to people not getting hired, even as Mamdani has stayed focused on progressive tax ideas instead of fixing the slow processes pushing businesses out.
“This recent data should be a wake-up call,” Heather Mulligan, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, said in a statement.
“It’s time to ensure we’re creating a business climate in The Big Apple, and throughout the entire state, that allows business to invest, expand and create jobs, not lose them.”
New Yorkers will, unfortunately, only have a chance to reverse this trajectory at the next election. For now, the numbers make a straightforward case that Mamdani has proven himself an economic illiterate whose policies are accelerating the flight of private-sector jobs out of the city that never sleeps.
Voters who want the Big Apple to stop losing the restaurants, hotels, and finance positions that still pay the bills should remove him while there is still time to change course. Until then, things will almost certainly get worse before they get better.
Editor's Note: This article was updated post-publication for clarity.