NEW YORK – An estimated 125,000 jobs will be lost this quarter in New York City as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the city can recover from the massive blow, a report says.
The city's economy also will suffer an $83 billion hit as a result of the attacks, according to the report released Thursday by the New York City Partnership & Chamber of Commerce.
The report said many of the jobs lost in the last three months of this year will return by 2003. New York will have a net loss of 57,000 jobs at the end of 2003, which represents 1.5 percent of the city's 3.75 million jobs, the report said.
"New York is an amazingly resilient city with resilient people, and I have great faith in the future of our city,'' said Sanford I. Weill, chairman and chief executive officer of Citigroup.
The $83 billion total damage figure includes an estimated $30 billion in capital losses, $14 billion in cleanup and related costs and $39 billion in loss of economic output to the economy.
The report estimates that even after insurance payments and federal funds to defray the cleanup operation, the city's economy will sustain a net loss of at least $16 billion - more if the city lags behind the nation's economic recovery.
The study found that damage from the terrorist attacks is concentrated in lower Manhattan, which lost 100,000 jobs and almost 30 percent of its office space. Additionally, a half-million square feet of retail space, mainly in the underground mall of the World Trade Center, was destroyed.
"In the near term we must develop a comprehensive blueprint for downtown's future and quickly restore its infrastructure,'' Weill said. "We also must tell the world that New York City is open for business and tourism. And we need federal help to accomplish all this.''
Specifically, the report said public and private sectors should quickly produce a plan to redevelop lower Manhattan before the trade center cleanup is completed in the middle of next year.
It also called for rebuilding downtown infrastructure, investing in comprehensive security measures and executing a citywide strategy to retain and expand the financial services industry.
Some of the newly jobless, as well as others who were unemployed before the attacks, attended a city-sponsored job fair Thursday. As at two previous job fairs since the terrorist attacks, thousands of job seekers lined up outside Madison Square Garden waiting to hand out their resumes. City officials estimated 6,000 job seekers and 275 employers attended Thursday's fair.
"The World Trade Center attack caused massive damage to New York's economy - damage that can be managed if we act quickly,'' said New York City Partnership President Kathryn Wylde.
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