Is New York Losing 25,000 Jobs After Amazon Cancels HQ2?

For the tech giant Amazon, it was a soured shopping in New York for a second headquarters. Amazon’s offer was indeed jobs galore but the decision to pull out without any compromise meant 25, 000 new jobs lost in New York.

Clearly, the flight of jobs will be a setback for New York as new headquarters and additional workforce would have boomed the city's economic sectors such as advertisements and technology.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was on record that the deal would have raked in $27 billion in revenue in exchange for nearly $3 billion incentives package.

What caused Amazon’s retreat?

Unlike the Amazon app that makes shopping easy and turns customers relaxed, in New York, local resistance forced the push back of investments that hinged on $3 billion in tax breaks. Amazon was planning to build the new campus at Long Island City, Queens, on the banks of the East River from Manhattan.

According to a spokesperson of Amazon, the bulk of these 25,000 jobs will now go to other corporate offices and tech hubs owned by Amazon in North American cities such as Boston, San Francisco, and Vancouver.

Amazon scrapped the plan to build a New York City headquarters saying it feels peeved by political opposition. Amazon’s investment had strong backing by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

For the HQ2 plan, Amazon invited bids from 200 locations. Finally, Northern Virginia and New York City qualified. Many elected officials in the state and city councils openly opposed the move as corporate welfare.

Concerns were also high that the Amazon investment will price out long term residents from their homes. Street protests in Long Island City also flayed the tech giant.

Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said some politicians are against our presence and not helping to build the type of relationships required to take the project forward.

Where will the jobs go?

Amazon said it would create more jobs in Seattle where new office buildings are in progress. It also committed 25,000 new jobs in Northern Virginia. Nashville will also get 5,000 new jobs. However, Amazon will not start another HQ2 search to replace New York City.

Under the new plan, New York will get a fraction of the new jobs coming up. Amazon had a good presence in the city and the workforce was nearly 5,000 employees. In New York City, Amazon had committed creating 25,000 jobs in a span of 15-years, the spokesperson added.

Nick Samuels, VP at Moody's Investors Service called Amazon’s retreat from New York as a setback for the city. He said Amazon's withdrawal illustrates how politics and anti-business sentiment can derail economic development.