Last week VentureBeat published an open letter that I wrote to Mayor de Blasio on the future of NYC’s tech community. The topic of technology in NYC is an important one. A healthy and successful tech ecosystem here is important not only for companies like MediaRadar, but for all companies in media, advertising, and publishing that are competing in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. While Mayor Bloomberg was an outspoken advocate for the tech community here in NYC, Mayor de Blasio has yet to say much about investments in the tech industry.
The full op-ed can be found here, and the thoughtful response from the NYC EDC can be found here.
Below are some of the reasons I laid out for why the de Blasio administration must embrace technology in NYC:
- The tech industry employs a huge number of people and brings in tax revenue. According to a new study conducted by HR&A Advisors and commissioned by the Association for a Better New York, Citi, Google and NY Tech Meetup, the tech ecosystem employs 291,000 people, about 7% of New York City’s workforce. The tech industry however brought in 12.3% of the City’s 2013 tax revenue – $5.6 billion, almost twice its proportional share. If we want to pay for all the new social programs promised during the campaign, we will need this revenue.
- Tech is one of the fastest growing segments of the work force. Tech companies have added 45,000 jobs from 2003 to 2013 (HR&A Advisors).
- Tech jobs pay well. Tech workers in New York City earn 49% more than the average city-wide hourly rate. And these jobs aren’t just for highly-educated workers: up to 44% of jobs in the New York City tech ecosystem do not require a bachelor’s degree (HR&A Advisors).
- Technology employees are socially conscientious! For example, a Mashable article revealed that 2 of their top 5 favorite socially conscious websites are based in NYC: Challenge Post and Collaborative Fund, and a third, Evocative Packaging, is upstate. Tech companies are a good cultural fit for the de Blasio efforts to better this city.
- Tech benefits the outer boroughs. For example, 90% of MediaRadar employees live outside Manhattan, pumping their earnings back into local communities.
We look forward to hearing more from Mayor de Blasio about his investments and outreach to continue to make NYC a global leader in technology.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
