“BRONX IS RISING”

BY  M. S.  Sheikh : The New York state comptroller held a press conference which took place in July 20  2018 in the Bronx a Deli to talk about  the economic snapshot of the Bronx. The Bronx has  made  great  progress and  has come a long way “Thomas P. DiNapoli the NEW YORK state comptroller said  According to the report, the population  of the Bronx increased by 26 percent between 1980-20017. Reaching almost 1.5 million only sightly less than the record set in 1970. It also indicates that immigrants are growing presence in the  Bronx. They are  indeed 37% of the  total population.They are also a  large part of the borough’s  economic success, making up nearly half of the workforce and 60% of self employed entrepreneurs.

T he report also  indicates that, three quarter of all immigrants in the Bronx are  from Latin America. The  number rose nearly five fold since 1980 to 412500 in 2016.

The number of immigrants from Africa and Asia has risen seven fold since 1980, and other they accounted for nearly one – fifth of the immigrant population. The largest concentrations of these immigrants were  from Ghana and Bangladesh.

The  Hispanic or Latino represent 56% of the population and  BLCKS OR  African Americans 29%.

The report shows that, the number of businesses has grown by 17% over the past 10 years, reaching almost 18000 in 2017. and taxable business  sales grew by 60% since the end of the recession in 2009, reaching a record  of 239900 jobs in 2017.

The employment rate averaged 6.2% in 2017 the lowest on record but the seventh highest of the 62 counties in the state..Private sector employment increased by 21% over a 10 years period reaching a record of 239900 jobs in 2017.

THE   median household income was 37500 in 2016 much lower than in any other  borough.

The  household poverty rate 28.4% and the child poverty rate 40.1% were much higher than the citywide rate 18.4% and 26.6% respectively.

According to the report in 2018 the Bronx was named the least healthy county in New York for the ninth consecutive year. However, the BRONX was ranked at the bottom for quality of life and health factors. Including smoking and obesity. A 2014 report finds that Bronx had the highest asthma rates for medicaid recipients in New York State.

Source: African journal dated Sept .2018