NEW YORK - The Sept. 11 attack caused $83 billion worth of damage to New York and will cost the city 57,000 jobs over the next two years, according to a report released yesterday.
According to the New York City Partnership & Chamber of Commerce report, 125,000 jobs will be lost in the fourth quarter of 2001 as a direct result of the attack on the World Trade Center. Many jobs will return, but the report estimated that New York will have a net loss of 57,000 jobs at the end of 2003. That represents 1.5 percent of the city's 3.75 million jobs.
"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.
"In the near term we must develop a comprehensive blueprint for downtown's future and quickly restore its infrastructure. ... 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."
The $83 billion figure includes an estimated $30 billion in capital losses, $14 billion in cleanup and related costs. In addition, it estimates a $39 billion loss of 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 report by several large management firms 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, mainly in the underground mall of the World Trade Center, was destroyed.
"Sept. 11 tested New York City, and, for the most part, we held up well,'' the report says.
"To protect the interests of the city and of the national economy, government must provide decisive leadership for the many stakeholders in the private sector who are committed to ensuring that New York comes back stronger than ever.''
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 yesterday. 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 rŽsumŽs. City officials estimated 6,000 job seekers and 275 employers attended.
"I was working at a record store,'' said Cliff Rawley, who was laid off a month after the attacks. "People just haven't been spending - especially on things like records.''
