Also, some of those now on welfare will not be able to get off because of the lack of home health care, day care and other semi-skilled jobs. The welfare cuts will have a particularly strong impact on neighborhoods where public assistance recipients are concentrated. This reduction in economic activity will affect merchants and landlords in those neighborhoods. CUNY estimates that enrollment will decline by 15,000 because of budget cuts. A college education is the only road to getting the skilled jobs that the City is creating.
People deprived of college skills are more likely to become dependent on government services.
Some people who lose home care will be lucky enough to be taken care of by family members. But some of those family members will have to quit their jobs. The City already suffers from having a low percentage of its population working, one in two compared to two of three in the nation as a whole. The Administration expects that reducing the size of government and cutting some business taxes will encourage businesses to locate in New York City and those already here to stay and expand. It is unlikely that business expansion, it if occurs, would create the unskilled and semi-skilled jobs for which most of those who will be hurt by the budget cuts would qualify.