established. there are even several grocery stores! the city weathered the recent financial crisis and the great recession far better than many would have anticipated. although employment in the securities industry has stagnated after the decline due to the great recession, the city has found new sources of dynamism, including 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches rapid growth in the technology sector and the further development of tourism. the number of technology workers in new york city has doubled to about 125, 000 in the past decade. that sector is now is nearly as big as the securities industry. and new york city had 56 million visitors last year, nearly double the total of 25 years earlier. in 2011, an important milestone was reached : payroll employment surpassed its previous alltime peak, from 1969, and it has grown strongly since then. crime rates have fallen significantly across the city since 1990, and real estate values have surged. one consistent source of strength for the city has been immigration. over this period, new york city benefited from a sizable influx of immigrants, which more than offset out - migration in many neighborhoods. to illustrate this, let ’ s take a look at one such neighborhood in brooklyn, sunset park, that was losing residents to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. as property values fell, new migrants from puerto rico, the dominican republic and central america moved in. by 1990, hispanics comprised about half of all sunset park residents. these new residents developed a thriving community, which boosted property values. there was also an influx of chinese residents, and part of sunset park has come to be known as brooklyn ’ s chinatown. there are many other examples where immigrants revitalized whole neighborhoods : russian and ukrainian immigrants in brighton beach ; chinese and korean immigrants in flushing ; and indian immigrants in jackson heights, just to name a few. so, has it been all good news for new york city in recent years? certainly not. many challenges remain. one by - product of a strong economy and real estate market has been a decline in housing affordability, and an increase in homelessness. it is estimated that there are over 60, 000 homeless people in new york city today — almost double the number from 10 years ago and more than four times as high as in the early 1980s. moreover, poverty rates remain high in many parts of the city, and the education system can certainly be improved. yet, a strong economy and a sound fiscal position at least provide the means to devote resources to help address these ongoing

will take up the mantle of reform. the federal reserve has designed these benchmarks to be compliant with iosco principles, with regular review by oversight bodies and comprehensive ethics and conflict - of - interest policies for staff. 20 best practice also dictates that administrators periodically review the rates they produce to assess whether changes in the underlying markets require changes in how those rates are administered. we have dedicated significant resources to these efforts, and are committed to the continued production of rates so that market participants can have confidence about their long - term viability. for these reasons, the federal reserve concurs with the arrc that sofr represents a compelling alternative to u. s. - dollar libor — particularly for most derivatives transactions, where a near risk - free rate is more appropriate than a rate that incorporates a bank credit risk premium. nevertheless, market adoption of sofr faces its own challenges, such as the development of sufficient liquidity in derivatives that reference sofr, and the establishment of a term reference rate, which i will discuss in a moment. these elements will have to be built over time. the arrc ’ s paced transition plan lays out a timeline for the milestones that must reached over the coming quarters and years for a successful transition. 21 i am confident that the arrc will succeed, but it will take considerable attention and effort. progress is already evident. the chicago mercantile exchange began offering sofr futures contracts earlier this month, and trading activity has gotten off to a good start. development of sofr derivatives, in turn, will support the creation of a term reference rate. although the arrc ’ s transition plan anticipates that this will be completed by the end of 2021, it would be better for this to occur more expeditiously. the good news is that is broadly appreciated. in this vein, the committee ’ s second report discussed some of the term rate alternatives, and development of proposals for a term reference rate was recently added to its mandate. in this regard, i would also encourage market participants, academics, and other interested parties to contribute to the effort to develop a term reference rate. another key area of focus — further motivated by andrew ’ s warning — is the development of fallback contract language in the event that libor ceases to be published. the absence of such language creates the potential for large - scale disorder in global financial markets should libor go away. put simply, this is an unacceptable risk. the international swap dealers association (