When casino giant Wynn showed off plans for its Hudson Yards West casino proposal last month, it enlisted progressive heavyweights to make the case that the venture would be a jobs bonanza for poor and working-class New Yorkers. The endorsements were full-throated and infused with hope and promise.
Leaders from the NAACP, National Urban League and Win, New York City’s largest provider of family shelter and permanent supportive housing, were among the groups that said the proposal would bring significant career opportunities. Christine Quinn, the head of Win and a former City Council speaker, spoke of “thousands of jobs for homeless moms.”
All told, according to Wynn New York City , the development could generate some 35,000 union construction jobs and add more than 5,000 unionized employees to Manhattan’s economy across a wide spectrum of professions.
But academic and business experts who have studied the economic impact of casinos have urged more skepticism and expressed doubt about the high hopes for jobs attached to the $12 billion venture. They point to a mixed bag of impacts from casino projects, outside of the shorter-term benefit of construction jobs. And their research even references net employment losses in casino communities, as new gaming halls — famously designed to keep patrons from venturing outside — snuff out economic activity nearby.