Job Projections For Sunset Park's 'Made in New York' Campus: More Details Released

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Bush Terminal to announce that the city would invest $136 million in the space, bringing out the "Made in New York" campus. The project will produce 200,000 square feet of garment manufacturing space and 100,000 square feet of top-line T.V. production space, the city said.

According to an official press release, the redevelopment effort would also "create 1,500 permanent jobs and 800 construction jobs," as well as 7,500 square foot "Café Building" that would be staffed by additional employees.

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But what, exactly, do such job estimates mean? Here are a group of questions Patch sent to the city's Economic Development Corporation, along with the responses received:

1) Regarding the 1,500 jobs linked to the future Made in New York campus, Patch asked how that estimate was arrived at.

"Typically these estimates are the result of a simple formula that calculates average square footage per employee," an EDC spokesperson said.

This seems consistent with a previous answer the EDC offered Patch regarding the same question. In August 2016, EDC announced that a redevelopment project at the Brooklyn Army Terminal Annex would create 100 food manufacturing positions. EDC spokesman Ryan Birchmeier explained at the time that the job estimate wasn't linked to hiring estimates offered by prospective tenants. Rather, the city estimated that one job would be created for every 500 square feet of manufacturing space established, which he said was a common ratio for manufacturers. He added that the total number of jobs at the space could exceed 100.

2) The city's press release referred to the 1,500 job statistic in two ways. At one point, the release stated that the project would "create 1,500 permanent jobs," whereas elsewhere, it stated that the campus would "support more than 1,500 permanent jobs" (emphasis ours).

Patch asked if EDC's analysis showed whether the jobs in question would be new — meaning they would be created by companies expanding their operations — or if they would be transferred from other, exiting locations.

The spokesperson said "create" and "support" were "interchangeable" in this case.

"EDC classifies these jobs as new due to the fact that a number of potential campus tenants could be companies currently located outside of the City and/or NY-based companies seeking expansion," the spokesperson wrote. "In the latter case, ideally their former space will be occupied by a new company (or companies) which results in new jobs as well."

3) Patch asked if the EDC could estimate how many jobs at the campus would be linked to television and film, and how many would be tied to garment manufacturing.

The agency spokesperson stated that about 75 percent of the positions would be linked to "garment manufacturing or other related manufacturing uses," while about 25 percent "would be in film/TV production."

4) The city's release stated that the average annual salary in the fashion industry is $57,000, while the average annual salary in the film production industry is $53,000.

Patch asked for the source of those numbers. According to the EDC spokesperson, they came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks employment data for numerous professions. Patch then searched the BLS database for TV and film production, revealing a variety of wage data for different segments of the industry. For example, BLS records an average annual salary of $87,450 for "film and video editors," while "camera operators" average $64,810 per year.

5) Along these lines, Patch asked EDC if its analysis revealed how the manufacturing campus' jobs would break down along salary lines, and if the average employee there would make the average wage listed.

"The salary ranges on campus will depend on the specific mix of firms that become tenants of the space," the spokesperson responded, "but we anticipate that they will be aligned with industry standards for those types of firms."

6) Finally, Patch asked if EDC had an estimate of how many jobs, and what kind of jobs, would be created at the café space.

"A majority of the space in the café building will dedicated to food manufacturing," the spokesperson said. "Food retail jobs (snack/sandwich shop for campus tenants/workers) will also be located here. Wages for these positions depend on our future tenants that end up occupying space there."

Again, BLS data shows a range of average annual salaries for workers in the food manufacturing industry, depending on their position. For example, "assemblers and fabricators" average 28,970 annually, while "food processing workers" average $30,180 annually.

Top image via NYC Mayor's Office