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:

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.