New York City’s books are looking flush, but Comptroller Mark Levine says the jobs story behind those numbers is a lot less rosy. On Friday he warned that while revenues are rising, private sector job growth has narrowed to a thin slice of health care and social service roles, especially lower paid home care positions. Posting on X, Levine said revenues are up but "job growth has stalled outside of home healthcare aides and social services," and he urged City Hall to move quickly to keep talent from leaving and to link New Yorkers with good paying work. His warning arrives as city leaders debate whether short term revenue gains can buy time to confront longer term workforce and budget problems.
nyc’s economy is strong and revenues are up, but we can’t ignore the warning signs. job growth has stalled outside of home healthcare aides and social services. we need action now to retain talent, connect people to good-paying jobs, and build an economy that grows for everyone.
— Office of the New York City Comptroller (@nyccomptroller) February 20, 2026
Revenues Climb While Warning Lights Blink
On paper, the city’s revenue picture looks impressive. Tax collections hit record territory in FY2025, with the city’s economic development arm reporting roughly $90.1 billion in tax receipts last year. According to NYCEDC, those receipts have grown every year since FY2019, helping push headline revenues steadily higher. The Comptroller’s latest quarterly cash report shows recent tax receipts running ahead of last year’s levels, a sign that the revenue tailwind is real even as other parts of the economy look shakier.
Job Growth Stuck In Care And Social Services
Underneath the strong top line, the hiring picture is far more concentrated. Most of the city’s recent private sector job gains have come from health care and social assistance, with a particularly large share in home based care instead of higher paying fields. Research from the Center for New York City Affairs found that nearly half of the sector’s pandemic era growth has come from home health care services, a trend closely linked to Medicaid contracting and nonprofit providers. National data revisions and a weak 2025 jobs backdrop have sharpened those worries, as broader payroll growth slowed last year and left the city’s narrow gains exposed if finance, information and other high wage industries fail to bounce back.
Levine Pushes For A Jobs Game Plan
Levine used his post to call for a clearer strategy on both workforce development and retention, repeating his plea to "retain talent, connect people to good-paying jobs" and warning that a single strong year of collections cannot substitute for broad based job creation. His message on X lines up with earlier cautions from his office about multi year budget gaps and structural pressures on the city’s finances. Reporting on the Comptroller’s wider outlook has highlighted those projected gaps as a reason to stay cautious even while revenues look healthy, a point underscored by recent coverage in Bloomberg.
What City Hall Can Do Now
Advocates and analysts argue that City Hall has a window to use the revenue surge to shape the recovery. They point to several tools that do not require reinventing the wheel: higher pay standards tied to public contracts, expanded training and apprenticeship pipelines, and incentives that encourage higher wage employers to plant deeper roots in the five boroughs. The Center for New York City Affairs notes that because so much of the care sector’s growth flows through Medicaid funding, procurement and contracting decisions are natural levers to improve job quality and raise wages for home based caregivers. Whether Albany and City Hall choose to convert the current revenue momentum into those kinds of investments will help determine who actually benefits from the rebound.
Bottom Line
Levine’s warning is a reminder that big revenue headlines can hide a lopsided recovery. Strong collections do not automatically translate into broadly shared prosperity. As budget talks ramp up, city leaders face a fairly stark choice: turn this revenue bump into long term investments in jobs and pay across sectors, or accept a narrower recovery that leaves many New Yorkers watching from the sidelines.
