superstorm sandy caused substantial damage to homes and the region ’ s infrastructure and severe economic disruptions in late 2012, the local economy as a whole bounced back quickly. despite the robust job growth, the unemployment rate among city residents has been persistently high – though it did fall to 8. 0 percent in december, nearly a 5 - year low. potential workers are not counted as unemployed unless they are actively looking for work, so this relatively high rate of unemployment, in part, reflects the relative strength in labor force participation, as the city ’ s residents remain engaged and looking for work. in contrast, at the national level, the picture is quite different – job growth has been slower and proportionately more people have dropped out of the labor force. perhaps surprisingly, while historically a key driver of the local economy, the finance sector has not been a leader in terms of job growth recently. instead, employment in new york city ’ s finance sector and the securities industry specifically, has been essentially flat over the past two years. the city ’ s job gains in this expansion have been broad - based across other sectors, indicating a healthy diversification within the economy. conditions in brooklyn now let ’ s focus on brooklyn. the borough ’ s economy has been particularly strong in recent years. compared with the other boroughs, brooklyn has seen generally stronger job growth, a stronger housing market, and stronger trends in wage and salary earnings. this strength is exemplified by the transformation of industrial neighborhoods – such as dumbo, red hook, greenpoint, east williamsburg, gowanus and bushwick – into increasingly diversified residential and commercial neighborhoods ; and the recent development of the atlantic yards and brooklyn navy yard. this changing landscape has helped spur economic activity which has created many new jobs in the borough. indeed, employment held up well during the recession, declining by less than 2 percent over a brief period in early 2009, and has averaged a nearly 3 percent annualized growth rate since then. job growth has been particularly strong at retailers, hotels and restaurants, and also service firms ranging from advertising to engineering. that said, the employment picture does have some difficulties. for example, there is concern over some well - paying health sector jobs given the financial strain at long island college hospital and interfaith medical center and the pressure to close those institutions. brooklyn ’ s economic vitality is also reflected in the commercial real estate market, as both office and retail vacancy rates have fallen steadily over the past few years. in fact, office

finance and expenditure committee ( fec ) 2019 - 20 financial review of the reserve bank of new zealand governor ’ s opening statement date : 10 february 2021 tena koutou katoa, welcome all. it is a privilege to be here with you today – alongside the rest of the bank ’ s senior leadership team – to report on the reserve bank of new zealand ’ s achievements, challenges, and opportunities on what has been an extraordinary and unprecedented year. like many organisations and businesses, we, at te putea matua, have had to change our way of working, refocus our priorities, and take necessary actions to continue to support cashflow and confidence among new zealanders during the tough times. the experience of the past year has brought forward new challenges, risks, and opportunities for us. while our priorities in the recent ( 2019 - 20 ) financial year have been focused significantly on supporting new zealand ’ s economic recovery from the covid - 19 pandemic, we have also continued our work on a wide range of initiatives, including : working with the treasury to have the new reserve bank of new zealand bill introduced to parliament ; agreeing to a new funding agreement with the minister of finance ; working closely with our fellow council of financial regulators ( cofr ) members to manage and co - ordinate regulatory work ; launching a new payment settlement system ; progressing our te ao maori strategy ; and managing climate risks to our financial system, among others. at the end of june last year – new zealand looked and felt quite different to what it does some eight months later. we ’ d just entered level 1 – activity was starting to pick up, sporting events and larger gatherings were going ahead and we were all finding our ‘ new normal ’. but - there was so much uncertainty about how the global pandemic would continue to unfold, and what responses would be needed. while we ’ ve got more information to work from now, and global policy responses are clearer, we still continue to learn and adapt. we are committed to responding to challenges and progressing initiatives that will ensure we remain an active, relevant cornerstone of new zealand ’ s economy and society. page 2 of 9 i thank my board, my colleagues and our people for their dedication, hard work, flexibility, and assistance. let me take you through some of the initiatives we have worked on in the past year : responding to the covid - 19 pandemic early in 2020, when the covid - 19 pandemic