BY MATTHEW ZEBATTO
According to the most recent NYS Labor Department statistics, New York City alone has lost some 885,000 private sector jobs due to the COVID-19 crisis. The economy and job market as we have known it for the past five or six years is now suffering from a radical adverse shock.
It will probably be a year or more before job market conditions, influenced by public health and emerging social concerns, become stabilized.
The news media has offered many stories about people in NYC who just several months ago, were thriving in their livelihoods from different sectors. Their financial status combined with their commitments and responsibilities has plummeted into distress.
Meanwhile, the greater NYC region’s developmental disabilities and autism field has hundreds of immediate job openings. For example, Life’s WORC/The Family Center for Autism, which has a presence in Manhattan, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, currently lists almost 100 accessible career opportunities!
As an employer of some 800 people, many of whom have logged five, ten, or even twenty years of service, we have been ranked by Crain’s, Newsday, and other peer reviewers as “one of the top workplaces in New York.” These positions feature a number of benefits and incentives including: a matching company pension plan, affordable health insurance, 100% paid dental insurance, education/professional development benefits, generous time off, advancement, and more.
Finally, it becomes gratifying, noble work to be a valued, trusted team member for people with developmental disabilities and autism. Your talents and skills as a caretaker, a teacher, a service provider, and a mentor are welcomed and appreciated by this community.
Some 50 agencies in this sector covering the five boroughs and suburbs alone are an employment base of more than 20,000. For a person who has lost their job or who faces financial hardship, why not apply now for this whole vista of workplace opportunities?
Matthew Zebatto is the assistant executive director for Life’s WORC/The Family Center for Autism.
