Canceling Congestion Pricing Could Kill 100,000 New York Jobs

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she paused New York City’s congestion pricing program for economic reasons: The tolls could hurt the region’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic more than they helped.

But a new analysis of the transit budget gap left in the wake of the program’s suspension this month points to possibly deeper pain: the potential loss of thousands of high-paying jobs throughout the state over the next few years.

At least 101,500 jobs could be lost in New York if the state does not find another way to fill the multibillion-dollar hole left in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget, according to a report released Wednesday by Reinvent Albany, a watchdog group.

A majority of those jobs would have been created by private companies that work with the authority to build new trains and buses and install new propulsion systems, among other things. On average, workers in these fields earn over $100,000 a year, said Rachael Fauss, a senior policy adviser with Reinvent Albany.

“The M.T.A. is an economic development engine for the entire region — not just to get people where they need to go, but to create jobs through all the infrastructure they have to maintain and repair and build,” she said.

The report, based on an analysis of M.T.A. spending and data from the Partnership for New York City, a business group, paints a picture of what might have happened if congestion pricing had been enacted, though how it would play out in reality is difficult to know. Reinvent Albany is a longtime supporter of the tolling program and has been critical of Ms. Hochul’s decision.