A New Plan to Hire Thousands of Workers to Help N.Y.C. Families in Need
The New York Times
Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the City Council, described the initiative in a speech that highlighted policies aimed at making New York a more affordable place to live.
Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the City Council, announced on Wednesday an effort to help hire New Yorkers for important but unfilled city jobs. The plan, which she described during her third State of the City address at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, is intended to improve services for New Yorkers and provide access to good-paying jobs that will help people remain in the city.
New York City is the nation’s largest municipal employer, but has struggled recently to recruit and retain employees. As of September 2023, there were over 20,000 vacant municipal jobs, according to Council data.
The vacancies have caused delays in services that have affected the most vulnerable New Yorkers. For example, only 14 percent of applications for cash assistance were processed within the required 30 days during a four-month period last year, compared with 95 percent in 2019 according to data from the preliminary Mayor’s Management Report. City officials say they have recently hired 1,000 workers and reduced the delays in processing benefits.
“The pandemic and an unequal recovery have exacerbated economic hardships, while a lack of capacity within our city agencies has undermined access to assistance that families could once rely on,” Ms. Adams said in her address on Wednesday. “This does not have to be our reality.”
Working with its largest municipal labor union, District Council 37, the city would fund an employment initiative starting this year that would create a pathway to city jobs for those at work force development programs at the City University of New York and other institutions. Participants would receive help with civil service test preparation and exam fees.
The second part of the effort would connect workers who are typically underemployed, including young people and asylum seekers, with seasonal city jobs such as cleanup crews or internships in various industries.
