Market review: Brooklyn weathering economic storm

Brooklyn, N.Y. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce released findings on Thursday from its 2009 Brooklyn Labor Market Review that showed the New York borough has experienced job growth in some sectors in spite of losses citywide.

The review projected that New York City overall will lose 115,000 jobs in 2009, while Brooklyn's job loss is expected to be 8,500, a 1.9% decline and about half that of the city overall.

With respect to retail, the review detailed recent expansion in the borough's retail sector -- good news, said the report, since the borough has been under-retailed compared with the national norm as reported in the 2006 review. At that point there were 6 sq. ft. per capita of retail space, compared with 19 ft. or 20 ft. per capita of retail space in other states.

The 2009 Review shows that Brooklyn now has one in every five retail jobs in New York City; it also projects that Brooklyn will lose 1,000 retail jobs this year, compared with 10,000 citywide.

"Brooklyn continues to weather the economic storm and will emerge well-positioned to resume growing," said Carl Hum, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. "The borough shows strength in a number of sectors, such as professional services, tourism, retail and educational services."

Further, the opening of new hotels and the increase in housing and restaurants are projected to help keep employment flat in these sectors that traditionally suffer in a downturn.

"Even though our economy continues to contract, job losses in Brooklyn continue to be at a far slower pace than the rest of the city," said Dr. James Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute.

The Chamber commissioned the Fiscal Policy Institute to analyze the borough's labor and economic landscape.