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New York's 10 largest employers

New York's largest private sector employer is Walmart. (CORRECTION 10:39 a.m.: The largest private sector employer is North Shore-LIJ Health System. I was supplied with an earlier, incorrect version of the report.)

The network of downstate hospitals employs 37,000 New Yorkers, according to new data from the Center for Governmental Research (CGR).

Walmart, the second-largest private employer in the state, employs the equivalent of 28,000 full-time workers.

The Rochester-based research firm prepared a new report on the economic impact of the University of Rochester. In doing so they compiled a list of the state's largest employers.

Getting this data is not as easy as it sounds. I tried to FOIL it from the State Department of Labor - but was shot down.

Here's how CGR got their numbers:

Since private employee counts are not public information, sources such as various local business journals, market research firms, and the employers themselves were utilized to gather the most accurate information.

The list is dominated by medical centers (and their affiliate universities), retailers and big banks.

Here's CGR's top 20:

  1. North Shore-LIJ Health System - 37,000
  2. Walmart - 28,000
  3. JP Morgan Chase - 27,000
  4. Wegmans Food Markets - 27,000
  5. Verizon - 27,000
     
  6. Citigroup - 25,000
  7. University of Rochester/Medical Center - 20,000
  8. IBM - 20,000
  9. New York Presbyterian Hospital - 19,000
  10. Mount Sinai Medical Center - 19,000
     
  11. New York University/School of Medicine - 18,000
  12. Montefiore Medical Center - 17,000
  13. Macy's - 16,000
  14. Cornell University/Weil Medical - 16,000
  15. Columbia University/Medical Center - 15,000
     
  16. Morgan Stanley - 13,000
  17. Consolidated Edison - 12,000
  18. Bank of America - 12,000
  19. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - 12,000
  20. Merrill Lynch - 11,000

It's a far cry from years past.
As recently as 2005, the state published data on New York's top 10 private sector employers. Still, the Labor Department was cagey about it even then. The state's top employers are listed alphabetically, without numbers.

Here's the top 10 - again, in alphabetical order - for 1964:

  1. A&P Corp.
  2. Consolidated Edison
  3. Eastman Kodak
  4. General Electric
  5. General Motors
  6. Grumman Aerospace
  7. IBM Corp.
  8. Metropolitan Life
  9. New York Telephone
  10. Sperry-Rand

Here's the top 10 for 1984:

  1. Chase Manhattan
  2. Consolidated Edison
  3. Eastman Kodak
  4. First National City Bank
  5. General Electric
  6. General Motors
  7. Grumman Aerospace
  8. IBM Corp.
  9. Manufacturers Hanover
  10. New York Telephone

Here's the top 10 for 2004:

  1. Chase Manhattan
  2. Columbia University
  3. Cornell University
  4. Eastman Kodak
  5. Home Depot
  6. IBM Corp.
  7. University of Rochester
  8. Verizon
  9. Wal-Mart
  10. Wegmans

The data above is from this 2005 New York State Department of Labor report [PDF]. The rankings come specifically from this table at the bottom of page 2.
You can read the full CGR report on the economic impact of the University of Rochester here.

WXXI/Finger Lakes reporter for the Innovation Trail.