The past year has devastated New York City’s small businesses. Between March and June of last year, the city saw nearly 3,000 of its small businesses shut their doors for good, taking one out of every eight city jobs with them. With thousands more workers left in limbo amid an uncertain recovery, employment is not expected to recover its pre-pandemic employment levels until at least the end of 2024.

The hospitality industry was hardest hit. From Broadway to bodegas, more than seven in 10 workers in the sector were thrown out of work last April. Unless they are brought back into the fold soon, we can expect many of these workers to drop out of the labor force entirely. 

Putting New Yorkers back to work will require every effort from our city’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. Running a small business is hard, even in the best of times. In New York City, entrepreneurs face high costs, byzantine regulations, and fierce competition. New York’s next mayor should have one aim when it comes to economic competitiveness: making the city the best place to start and run a small business in America.

Join MI's director of state & local policy Michael Hendrix, and Manhattan Institute senior fellows Nicole Gelinas, Steven Malanga, and Rafael Mangual for this discussion on how New York can restart growth and gain competitiveness.

communicatons@manhattan-institute.org