Queens Is Home To A Fifth Of NYC's Front-Line Workers: Study

QUEENS, NY — Queens is home to more than a fifth of the front-line workers who are fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping the city running in the meantime, according to a new report from city Comptroller Scott Stringer's office.

Of the 84 percent of front-line workers who live within the five boroughs, 22 percent call Queens home — the second-largest share after Brooklyn, which houses 28 percent of front-line workers, the comptroller's office found.

Women account for more than 60 percent of the workers in those categories, and 75 percent of front-line workers are people of color, according to the comptroller's office.

The comptroller's report defines front-line workers as those who work at grocery, convenience and drug stores; public transit workers; trucking, warehouse and postal service workers; health care workers; building and cleaning services workers; and workers in child care, homeless, food and family services.

In Queens, these workers tend to live in southeast Queens or in the northeast Queens census tract that covers Flushing, Whitestone and Bay Terrace, the comptroller's office found.

"Every single day, crisis or no crisis, these are the essential workers in our city, our economy, and our society," the report says. "How well we protect, compensate, and care for these workers, then, will be the ultimate litmus test for what we’ve learned from this global pandemic."

Stringer released the demographic profile Thursday as a guide for local government officials to better address the needs of essential workers who are toiling on the frontlines of the pandemic.

"As our City faces the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19, frontline workers are putting their safety on the line to keep our city running," Stringer said. "These New Yorkers are risking their own health and that of their families by putting their lives on the frontlines of this fight every single day — and we need to have their backs."

The demographic profile also includes data on how and what time front-line workers head to work, their citizenship status, how many live below the poverty line and how many have health insurance.

Click here to read the full report.

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