New York Jobs Gained Since 2008 Mostly Offer Low Pay, Study Says

Industries paying low salaries have added 82,000 jobs statewide, led by restaurants, educational consulting services, and at-home health-care services, the nonprofit research group said in the report released today. The Albany-based institute receives funds from private foundations and labor unions.

Since mid-2008, when the report says the recession began in New York, the state has lost more than 250,000 middle- and high- wage jobs in areas such as manufacturing, construction, government and finance, according to the institute. In the city, 121,000 high-paying jobs vanished, it said. The longest U.S. slump since World War II started in December 2007 and lasted 18 months to June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Combined, the recession and the weak economic recovery that followed may have cost the state as much as $31 billion in annual earnings, according to the report. Among the losses it counted were 504,000 jobs, including about 96,000 that were never created because of missed small-business opportunities as unemployment curbed consumer spending.