New York Adding Transit Jobs at Rapid Rate

America's biggest city is growing, which means its new workers need new jobs. While manufacturing and other middle class jobs have been disappearing over the last decade, in New York transit jobs are flourishing. 

According to an article in Next City by Johnny Magdaleno, "the transportation sector added jobs at a remarkable rate of 8.9 percent between 2013 and 2015." This data comes from a Center for an Urban Future published September 20. This finding has big implications for lower and middle class workers in New York and those without college degrees who can have trouble breaking into other sectors.

The report goes on to contrast transit jobs to other middle class jobs, "Transportation jobs pay an average of $53,417 a year, compared to $56,479 in manufacturing and $55,720 in construction. In 2015, transportation along with warehouse jobs employed 112,864 people throughout the city, while manufacturing stood at 77,213, or only about 2 percent."

The piece highlights a possible threat to these jobs in a lack of political support. Many have also speculated on what autonomous vehicles may mean for drivers. Finally, in anything to do with jobs population is a factor, and while many continue to debate whether or not millennials love cities, for now New York, for now this sector is booming.