New York City Economy
According to Ask4beauty, the great North American metropolis (the so-called New York Metropolitan Region, NYMR) develops within three states: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. From an administrative point of view, NYMR is divided into three levels: New York City (which includes the five counties shown in the table and constitutes the city of NY itself); the metropolitan area bounded by the borders of the state of NY (to the previous five counties are added those of Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam and Sullivan); the NYMR, i.e. the entire metropolitan region including the metropolitan sections of the states of New Jersey (14 counties) and Connecticut (3 counties). At the 1990 census, the population of NY City amounted to 7,322,564, while the population outside the City was 4,635,184 inhabitants. On the same date, the NYMR population was 19,843,157, 6,079,453 living in the New Jersey section and 1,805,956 in the Connecticut section. Compared to the 1980 census, the city’s population increased by 3.5%, a very significant increase especially considering that in the previous decade the inhabitants had decreased by as much as 10.4%.
In the decade 1970-80 the population of the metropolitan region had increased from 19,742,904 residents to 19,192,781, a decline of 2.8%. In this interval only the City marked a marked loss of inhabitants, as the population of the other three components of the metropolitan region increased. Among the main causes of this population decrease is the migratory balance. The phenomena of deindustrialisation and outsourcing of the metropolitan economy and, at the same time, the high levels reached by urban rent, which hinder the emergence of new economic activities, have caused employment losses and determined the formation of a strong prevalence of flows in exit. The migratory balance has become increasingly negative, passing from −482,000 units (1960-70) to −1,162,000 units (1970-80). The deficit was heaviest in the run-down sectors of Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn, while a positive balance was recorded on Staten Island and in the southern section of Manhattan. Among the causes of this counter-urbanization (a phenomenon common to many metropolises) is also the difficulty in finding new housing, due, among other things, to the lowering of the average size of households (in Manhattan 46.6% of residents are singles).
In the decade 1980-90 the population of the metropolitan region started to increase again. This turnaround involved NY City itself, which posted a 3.5% increase. During this time, all counties turned positive, while the increase in Staten Island decreased.
Overall, over the twenty-year period 1970-90, the increase in inhabitants was modest, but internal mobility was always very high, and as in previous years, the redistribution of the population favored the less densely populated counties with the greatest characteristics. of rurality to the detriment of the central districts.
Regarding the ethnic composition, the population of NY is divided as follows (1990): whites (non-Hispanics) 3,436,541 (46.9%), blacks 2,102,512 (28.7%), Hispanics 1,783,511 (24, 4%). For the first time, whites have fallen below 50% of the city’s population. During the decade 1980-90, the Hispanic population increased by 21.2%, while the black population by 15.1%. Instead, the decrease in the white population was 11.4%.
Observing the demographic behavior of the entire metropolitan region, the increase in the Hispanic population was close to 27%, that of the black population remained just over 14%, while the decrease in the white population was equal to 4.3%. Whites predominantly reside in Staten Island, Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn, while making up a fifth of the Bronx population. Blacks are traditionally concentrated in Harlem and the South Bronx, east of Prospect Park, in the borough of Brooklyn, and ultimately in a large area located in southeastern Queens. Hispanics, mostly from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and other Latin American countries, are concentrated in the southern Bronx and some areas of Brooklyn. The other ethnic minorities account for 3-4% of the total population of NY City and are made up of Chinese for more than half. The Indians are about a fifth, while Filipinos, Koreans and Japanese are represented in an almost negligible measure; they mostly reside in Chinatown, in the southern section of Manhattan.
NY is the main demographic and economic center of the United States and one of the largest concentrations of political and economic power in the world. Over the last few years, however, its production system has undergone some contractions and, especially in the secondary sector, symptoms of stagnation have appeared (in many counties of the metropolitan region the unemployment rate has exceeded 5%). In the second half of the 1980s, total employment was just over 3 million units and only 460,000 were employed in the manufacturing sector.
In the city itself, small establishments of light and specialized industry predominate: packaging and clothing in the first place, construction of electric and non-electric machines, graphic-publishing industries, of scientific instruments and food. The large branches of chemistry (NY is the capital of this type of industry) and metallurgy are concentrated on the outskirts and especially along the waterways; finally, aeronautical and space constructions are located in the region.
The services sector maintained an upward trend. Within this sector, public and private services, cultural and administrative activities, credit and insurance institutions, real estate companies and advertising play a leading role. The financial structure has also evolved greatly and Wall Street remains the main financial center of the entire world.
From a commercial point of view, NY has reached high levels of development; parallel to the expansion of trade, transport has progressed. The port is the largest in the United States; exports products with high added value, manufactured in the metropolitan area, throughout the North-East of the United States and in the Great Lakes region; imports raw materials (oil), foodstuffs, etc. A gigantic container portwas built in Newark Bay. NY is also an important airport: through its three airports (Kennedy, Newark, La Guardia) 40 million passengers pass annually and one million tons of goods are sorted. The city is served by 4 heliports. Despite its eccentric location, NY is the main road junction on the continent: about twenty highways and expressways cross or flank the different parts of the agglomeration.
