East New York Residents Want More Job Opportunities

July 20, 2005

As part of NY1's Brooklyn Week coverage, the newschannel talked this week to East New York voters who have job concerns on their mind. While overall unemployment in New York City is lower than the national average, that's not the case in some Brooklyn neighborhoods.

In East New York, jobs are an issue on the mind of voters in this election year. The city has put millions into the structural unemployment program, money that will be divvied up among community development organizations.

But no one group can receive more than $700 thousand – and officials in East New York say that's not enough to make a dent in their unemployment rates. "It is double digit in East New York," says Brooklyn City Councilmember Charles Barron of the neighborhood's unemployment rate. "You're talking about at least 12 to 15 percent unemployment in general, and then for our youth it is as high as 40 to 60 percent." "We have to come up with some very fresh approaches, we have to come up with entrepreneurships," says William Wilkins of the East New York LDC. "It's not just a wage or job; you have to be able to sustain yourself."

Bloomberg administration officials says they're making strides in addressing chronic unemployment in Brooklyn, and that several major development projects should provide jobs.

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