There was a “ripple” effect on New York City’s economy after the World Trade Center tragedy. While the press highlighted the airline industry, there were thousands of businesses, peoples to some degree also. For the first two months after the attack, restaurants in upper Manhattan saw a huge decrease in clients and had to lay off employees. 70% of small service businesses went from averaging hundreds of customers a day in traffic to a handful of people. Tourism in the entire New York area seriously declined, leaving previously p

As in other disasters, only this time at a new level, the World Trade Center attack is revealing the deep social polarization in the US. Although both rich and poor perished in the horrific assault, it is the poor working people who were bearing the brunt of the economic fallout. These are workers who were living paycheck-to-paycheck, or even day-to-day. Sidewalk vendors who had no place to sell lunches and snacks had nowhere to turn. Workers in small retail establishments were similarly affected. Garment workers who worked about three miles north of the WTC attack site in New York’s famed garment district, and who earned less than $15,000 annually, lost pay when the shutdown of lower Manhattan prevented shipments of clothing.

The very next winter in January, the Ice Storm in Ontario and Quebec was the biggest ice storm ever recorded. A state of emergency was declared in 66 municipalities of Ontario and Quebec, the northern United States and into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The estimated insured loss alone totaled $1.44 billion. In addition, other losses were about $1 billion to replace transmission lines and $1 billion for loss of income. Whole communities were without electricity for up to three weeks. 35,000 power line poles and towers collapsed. The manufacturing, transportation, communications and retail sectors sustained a loss of $1.6 billion in economic output due to the ice storm. 5,500 dairy producers experienced lost production, which resulted in the dumping of 13.5 million liters of milk.

Traffic was a huge problem, along with the decline in tourism and business, and consequent drop in fares. An official of the Taxicab, Limousine and Para transit Association, which represents companies in all 50 states, said that a survey reported that taxicab income in the city was 67 percent lower than during the same period the year before the attacks.

rosperous business owners in financial distress that would take years to recover from. Hair salons across the area reported that their customers stopped spending money on luxury items, like perms, hair colors, and nail services. Even now, two years later, restaurants and small businesses have rebounded, but they still are not having the sales, or the employment that they were having before September 11th.

What happened at the World Trade Centers will effect the economy for many years. Over time we need to watch how investors and public attitudes change. The September 11 tragedy took place as the New York City economy was already weakening at a rapid rate.

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