New York City could lose 165,000 jobs, says report

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A report scheduled to be released Wednesday estimates that New York City could lose 165,000 jobs within the next two years as a result of the recent turbulence on Wall Street.

The job loss projection by New York City comptroller's chief economist is nearly double the 85,000 forecast in July.

"This was what we had feared, but hoped we could avoid," said Frank Braconi, the chief economist who authored the report. "It represents that there's a much wider range of problems in the economy now than six months ago."

The forecast of 165,000 lost jobs includes the prediction that as many as 35,000 could be lost in the financial services industry, up from a previous forecast of 25,000 financial jobs out of a total of 85,000. That means a greater percentage of job losses are forecasted for other industries.

The report reflects the sense that the city's economy is showing more of the deteriorating nationwide trends it had resisted for so long. And city officials are particularly troubled by what they see as evidence that the economic crisis in New York City is spreading to other industries and is no longer contained on Wall Street.

The comptroller's office says it came to these figures by looking at job loss during previous recessions, most recently in 2001.