Jobs & Economic Development

The key to economic security – paying the rent, putting kids through college and guaranteeing a secure retirement – is a good paying job. Today, too many New Yorkers are unemployed or underemployed and cannot provide for their families.

That’s why Chris has worked hard to create jobs, diversify our economy, help small businesses and raise our standard of living in all five boroughs.  

Our city has made real progress and we are doing better than the rest of the nation. But we cannot be satisfied until all New Yorkers have real economic opportunity and can provide for their families.

As Speaker, Chris:

  • Created a $3 million Biotech Tax Credit, which has led to a 14 percent growth of firms citywide.
  • Helped bring 3,000 new, good paying manufacturing jobs to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
  • Passed the living wage law that requires a salary of at least $10 an hour for all workers at city-funded developments.
  • Created a $10 million Small Manufacturing Investment Fund to renovate and retrofit unused warehouse space for new firms.
  • Ended double taxation for many of the city’s smallest business owners through an Unincorporated Business Tax Credit.
  • Created a Regulatory Review Panel, resulting in 14 initiatives to make it easier for small businesses to avoid fines and created a penalty relief period for outstanding fines.
  • Created the MWBE Leadership Association, helping minority and women owned businesses win contracts with the City.
  • Converted unused City-owned warehouse space at La Marqueta in East Harlem into a kitchen incubator, which is helping an average of forty new food businesses start each year.
  • Launched NYC Tech Connect, an industry organization that supports the development of potential tech entrepreneurs. 
  • Launched the Metropolitan Entrepreneur Testing Service, which provides clean technology entrepreneurs with free space in City facilities.
  • Created GroceryWorks, a program that trains unemployed New Yorkers for jobs in the food retail industry and places them in career-track positions.

As Mayor, Chris plans to:

  • Target individual neighborhoods for strategic economic development. Chris has an economic development plan which will capitalize on the different strengths, infrastructure, and potential of New York City’s neighborhoods. It’s a strategy that sees opportunity in every community by looking at existing industries with room for growth and identifying new industries that can build on neighborhood advantages. For example, the South Bronx is a center for trucking and in the next few years those trucks will need to be retrofitted by clean-tech companies to meet new efficiency standards. We can capitalize on that need and the many strengths of the South Bronx such as its infrastructure, transit hubs, roads, and human capital. And by creating matching grants for clean-tech companies, or helping property owners outfit space that suits the industry’s needs, we can begin to transform the South Bronx into a modern hub of clean-tech jobs.

  • Double the city’s exports by 2020, by creating NYC’s first ever regional export council. New York City underperforms in exports compared to every other major metropolitan region in the country. Cities with high levels of exports achieve this success because they utilize a regional approach and adhere to a comprehensive strategy that helps local businesses identify and access foreign markets. Chris will bring together government and industry leaders from New York, New Jersey, and the Port Authority to develop a comprehensive regional plan with the goal of doubling our city’s exports by the year 2020. This will create more jobs on the Staten Island waterfront, and boost sales for companies all over the city and region.

  • Create 2,000 new manufacturing jobs in Sunset Park. Sunset Park contains nearly 9 million square feet of city-controlled industrial space, and much of it remains underutilized. We can build on the success of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and turn these properties into thriving centers of modern manufacturing. After the city created an independent non-profit development corporation in charge of investing in the Navy Yard, it grew to employ 6,000 New Yorkers and create billions of dollars in economic activity for the city. Chris will create a similar non-profit corporation for the terminals at Sunset Park that will help bring in new businesses and new jobs. By better utilizing all of the unused industrial space, we can create more than 2,000 new jobs.

  • Help small businesses grow so they can hire more New Yorkers. Starting your own business is a central part of the middle class dream for many New Yorkers. But ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you one of their biggest challenges is accessing credit to buy new equipment or acquire a bigger space so they can grow their business. Chris will create a new pool of city capital that will act as a backstop for community lenders, empowering them to make bigger loans to new and growing businesses. For every $2 million the city puts up, we can guarantee as much as $5 million in small business lending.

  • Attract more businesses and jobs with the highest quality workforce in the world. Our workforce is the most important factor that attracts companies and entrepreneurs to create jobs in the five boroughs. But our current workforce development system is disjointed and out of date. Chris introduce a thoroughly reinvented workforce development system - one that’s driven by real world-demand, has clearly defined metrics and goals, and rewards lasting results.

  • Get more international businesses and entrepreneurs investing and creating jobs in NYC. Many international businesses and growing startups are interested in opening offices in New York City, but are daunted by having to navigate an unfamiliar environment. Chris will create a team of economic development staff that will be dedicated to these businesses, providing services like visa application assistance so their employees can work in New York, or connecting firms with available space in the five boroughs. The team will also spend time on the ground in major international cities and emerging markets, working to attract business investment, and bringing thousands of new jobs to the five boroughs.

  • Create more jobs and help NYC food businesses thrive by developing a series of world-class food markets. One of the city’s strongest business sectors is food manufacturing. It’s a $5 billion industry that employs tens of thousands of New Yorkers. Chris will develop a series of world-class regional food markets that will serve as destinations for residents and tourists alike. These markets will bring fresh local food to residents of the neighborhood and help drive economic development by providing a place for local food manufacturers to sell their goods. The first market at the South Street Seaport, which is set to open seven days a week starting next fall, will be the first of many in Chris’ citywide food market plan.

  • Incentivize more investment in biotech and medtech startups. Sometimes emerging businesses need a little help attracting early stage investors; this is especially true for the biotech and medtech industries. Both of these industries show great potential in NYC, but they need help to grow. Chris will work with the State to create a brand new tax credit for investors to encourage them to fund new biotech and medtech startups.

  • Encourage domestic companies to bring American jobs back onshore. Over the past few decades, New York and the United States have seen a loss of jobs to less expensive international labor markets. However, many American companies are looking to move some of their outsourced jobs back to the United States. Chris believes we can bring many of these jobs to the City, creating new job openings for New Yorkers. Many of these positions will require specific types of training, which makes the size and quality of our workforce a major asset.

  • Continue to develop a Brooklyn Tech Triangle. The tech industry, like a lot of industries, thrives on connections to similar businesses. Take for example, the proximity of DUMBO and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, two hubs of our growing tech sector. All you need to do is look at a map to realize the next logical place for these businesses to head is Downtown Brooklyn. Chris will continue to invest in Downtown Brooklyn as the third point in a vibrant Brooklyn Tech Triangle by increasing transit connections and helping property owners retrofit their space to suit the needs of tech startups.

  • Provide a single point of contact for businesses interacting with the city. The current approvals process for small businesses in New York is extremely complex, and often requires business owners to interact with staff at multiple agencies for permits, inspections, or assistance. Chris will implement a program called NYC Business Link, to provide a single point of contact for small business owners. All you’ll have to do is call 311, and a Link Coordinator will help you get every permit, every license, and every inspection. They'll get to know your business and your needs, and coordinate with each City agency on your behalf.

  • Ensure that more government contracts are awarded to local businesses. Whenever the City buys a product or procures a service, we’re required by State law to take the lowest bid – even if that means sending our taxpayer dollars to Minnesota or Malaysia. Chris will work in Albany to change that law, so we can give preference to a qualified local company, particularly one that’s woman or minority owned. We may spend a little more up front, but we’ll support local jobs and ultimately create additional revenue for local businesses and the city.