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Is New York Less Affordable Than Ever?
The snarkists over at Gawker used the I Can’t Afford to Love NY tee-shirt to bash hipsters (and fair enough). When we saw it, we first wondered why it hadn’t made the rounds during the boom, when real estate prices were hitting the ozone layer, instead of now, when rental and sales prices are coming down.
Maybe this is why: New York City’s unemployment rate hit 10.3 percent in September, according to the state Department of Labor. It was just 6 percent at the same time last year. Meanwhile, according to Mercer’s annual cost of living survey, it costs as much to live in New York in 2009 as in 2008. The upshot–things got really expensive, then everyone lost their jobs, but stuff isn’t cheaper.
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© 2010 Recessionwire. 
I don’t really buy this, Sara. Of course the recession has been horrendous for people who’ve lost their jobs (and for their partners and children). But lots of people in New York didn’t have jobs BEFORE the recession began. Or had jobs but were not making ends meet even with those jobs.