The New Jobs of New York

“Eight o’clock,” he sighed as he headed from the Meatpacking District toward Broadway. “Supposedly, this is the busiest shopping day of the year, and look how few people are out. They say the economy is improving, but I don’t see it.”

“Stores are empty,” he said. “Store space turns over often in Manhattan, but now the stores stay empty. I have never before seen ‘For Rent’ signs on Madison Avenue and Park Avenue, but now I do. People can’t buy. I hear stories from my customers about being without work, stories so sad I forget my own problems.”

“Look here,” he said as we turned onto 44th Street. “Here are parking ramps on both sides of the street, and both of them have people with those yellow flags to wave in customers. Until this year, you would never see that. The ramps would be full—and not only on Friday, but every night.” He shook his head. “These are the new jobs of New York,” he said: “Parking ramp flag wavers.”

But do you know what? You and I learned some things last year. We learned how to be more efficient—to cut costs without cutting deeply into the value of the products we offer customers. We learned to cut waste. We learned to hire smartly and sparingly, because it’s no fun to let people go. We learned to separate needs from wishes. And although we didn’t want to learn those things and don’t want to have to apply them, being able to do so could mean that you and I will have a happier new year, even if we don’t get the sizable economic recovery we expect.

And we won’t be alone. Also likely to have a good 2010 are several of the companies featured in this issue, including the Fallon advertising agency, which is staging a long-awaited comeback; U.S. Energy, which helps clients get the best prices possible on natural gas; PaR Nuclear, which is equipping nuclear power plants being built around the world; and a Minnesota-based cluster of world-leading hearing-aid companies that are riding technological advances into prospective prosperity.