Mayor de Blasio is sitting pretty when it comes to the city’s finances, with significant job growth anticipated over the next two years, according to the Independent Budget Office.
The record 121,000 jobs added last year is expected to be bolstered by 96,000 this year and an additional 80,000 in 2016, the IBO said in a report issued Friday.
About 55 percent of the added jobs will be in two sectors: education and health-care services as well as professional and business services, the oversight agency said. Less than 15 percent of the employment growth was anticipated in “leisure and hospitality,” traditionally lower-paying industries. The IBO reiterated its estimate that the city would end the current fiscal year on June 30 with $1.8 billion more than projected.
And tax revenues are expected to grow at 4.6 percent a year — while spending is likely to go from $78.8 billion this year to $87.3 billion in 2019, or an average annual increase of only 2.6 percent.
“Based on our projections under the terms of the mayor’s financial plan, New York City’s budget outlook for the next few years is sound,” said IBO Director Ronnie Lowenstein.