New York City residents saw their wealth drop 13% in the last year
Aug 5, 2020, 20:42 IST
- As Bloomberg's Jack Pitcher reports, a new report from Webster Pacific and New World Wealth found that, looking at wealth levels from June 2020, the combined wealth of New Yorkers shrank by around $336 billion over the past year.
- According to Bloomberg, New York saw the greatest drop among major cities in the past year.
- From 65 billionaires in a 2019 report, New York City had 60 in 2020.
- The number of millionaires also shrank: while 380,000 lived in New York in 2019, there were only 347,600 as of this June.
- In March, New York City became the epicenter of the country's coronavirus pandemic, although the city has now had three straight days without any confirmed coronavirus deaths, NBC New York reports.
- The US' second-wealthiest city — San Francisco — wasn't as hard hit; per Bloomberg, it only lost 5% of its wealth — around $105 billion.
- Overall, the report found that total wealth in the US decreased by 9% during the first six months of 2020.
- It attributes that drop to an increase in household debt, falling income levels, job losses, declining stocks, and a weaker property market.
- However, while the US remains the wealthiest country in the world, over 30 million people in the US are receiving unemployment benefits.
- The stimulus package from March just lapsed — leaving the unemployed short of an extra $600 in benefits and around 23 million people at risk of being evicted as foreclosure moratoriums lapsed.
- The increase in benefits ended last week, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that he would support an extension of it if President Donald Trump backs it.
- While the worst of the coronavirus pandemic recession has likely passed, Business Insider's Carmen Reinicke reports that there are still major hurdles to recovery ahead — including surges in cases and deaths.
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