The once-burning Bronx is now booming, relatively speaking. It was the only borough in the city to record an increase in employment in the first quarter of the year compared to the year earlier, growing 1.1%, or by roughly 2,200 jobs, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The borough’s employment growth was surpassed by only three other counties in the country, BLS reported, as the recession battered local economies from coast to coast. It was driven largely by a 5,000-job increase in the education and health care sector, which accounts for about a third of the borough’s jobs. The report did not take into account the 1,773 jobs created by the opening of the Gateway Center in the South Bronx, as the mall didn’t open its doors until the second quarter.
“So much of the employment in the Bronx is insulated from the downturn,” said James Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, citing the borough’s reliance on the health and education sector, one of the only areas of the city economy that has grown during the recession.
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