Industrial Restructuring in the New York Metropolitan Area

[...]This paper analyzes the industrial restructuringprocess in the New York metropolitan area in the first halfof the 1990s.1 It shows that the restructuring was accompaniedby a decline in the labor force, particularly in NewYork, where the decline persisted through the first half ofthe 1990s. The analysis also shows that a significant part of the area’s restructuring in this period represents a continuationof the long-term trend away from manufacturingtoward a service-oriented economy. This shift, whilebroadly in line with nationwide trends, has been somewhatmore intense in the metropolitan area. Downsizings ingovernment employment, especially in New York City,have also been a key feature of the area’s restructuring process.Together, job losses in government and manufacturinghave lowered job growth in the area over the past threeyears by an average of 0.5 percentage point annually. As aresult of these industrial restructuring patterns, the servicesector has become significantly more important in shapingthe area’s economic performance.[...]