Wall St crisis threatens 225,000 New York jobs: official

As many as 225,000 jobs could be lost in New York city and state due to the Wall Street crisis, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has said.

"Total private sector job losses during this two-year period could reach 225,000 in New York state, including 175,000 in New York city," DiNapoli said in a report on the crisis yesterday.

The report, covering the period October 2007 to October 2009, warned that "job losses could be even greater if the downturn is longer and deeper than currently forecast."

The report underlines alarming budget shortfalls facing both New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg and state Governor David Paterson.

DiNapoli said that both city and state rely so heavily on Wall Street for tax revenues that they might need "federal assistance to navigate these uncharted waters."

The report predicts 48,000 job cuts in New York city's financial services sector, 38,000 of them in the securities industry.

The finance sector is so central to the area's economy that every Wall Street job supports two additional jobs in other fields in the city and another 1.3 elsewhere in the state.

Before the crisis, which has seen the collapse of major banks and the wiping out of trillions of dollars worth of investments, Wall Street was the engine of New York government revenues.

The securities industry accounted for just five per cent of New York city jobs, but 25 per cent of income.