New York is one of the largest cities in the world. More than one hundred thousand people come here every year, not only from the United States, but also from other countries. However, it is widely believed that working in New York for immigrants from the post-Soviet countries is a pipe dream. Of course, when looking for a job in the Big Apple, the same, for example, Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians and Kazakhstanis will have numerous questions. But you should not be afraid of this.
Benefits of Working in New York
The main advantage of New York is the presence of a large number of vacancies (note that the unemployment rate in NYC at the beginning of 2021 is higher than in the state), which can be occupied even by low-skilled personnel. Moreover, work without knowledge of the language is even available here.
For example, small production facilities are open in areas of New York such as Queens and Brooklyn. There you can get a job as a food packer. But an applicant for a high-paying job must be able to communicate fluently in English.
The metropolis is home to the head offices of many large international concerns and corporations. Compared to other cities in the United States, the Big Apple has the highest hourly wages.
New York's multiculturalism also plays an important role. Therefore, people who have made the decision to emigrate to America, when adapting, will not face serious problems in this city.
What professions are in demand in New York
It is necessary to know the difference between the concepts of "the most demanded professions" and "the highest paid specialties." The former are generally not well funded. Their list includes specialties with a small salary, so US residents and even immigrants who have settled in the country do not want to work for such a salary. This leads to a shortage of labor for certain groups.
Let's take a quick look at what vacancies in New York are most in demand for Russians.
- Retailers. An occupation of this kind does not require special skills and abilities. Sales assistants earn an average of $ 26,000 / year in Brighton Beach (the cradle of the Russian-speaking diaspora of the Big Apple), which is significantly less than the average annual salary in the United States, which in 2021 was about $ 35,000.
- Hotel and restaurant workers. Difficult working conditions and low salaries cause staff turnover. Therefore, in New York, in fact, as in other large cities of the country, chefs, waiters, dishwashers and maids are required.
- Working at a construction site in New York. Physically hardy and healthy male migrants who have not crossed the age of 55 can apply for a vacancy in this area. The wages here are usually hourly. Regardless of the position in 2021, it must be at least $ 15 / hour. This is the rule of the law of 2021 on the salary increase The Raise the Wage Act of 2021.
- Housekeepers and nannies. To carry out such duties, high qualifications are not required. Also, you do not need to be proficient in colloquial speech in English. And emigrants from the CIS countries usually hire Russian-speaking women for such work.
- Truck driver. This work involves a huge daily load on the body. When hiring, HR specialists of a transport company prefer foreign drivers aged 25 to 30 to work on trucks. Their annual earnings range over a very wide range - from $ 30,000 to $ 90,000, depending on experience and qualifications. The nature of the goods transported also plays an important role. A trucker transporting hazardous chemicals from New York to California makes more money than a colleague transporting frozen fish from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
- Work for students. The student should devote most of his time to study, and part-time work should in no case interfere with the acquisition of deep knowledge in the chosen specialty. Although, of course, in conditions of an acute shortage of funds, you can get a job as a cashier, seller or waiter. But if a young person is studying at the faculty of a computer profile, the best option for earning additional income is to work as a programmer, even if at the moment not in a leading, but at least ambitious company. In addition to a decent salary (average annual size in the range of 37 thousand - 87 thousand dollars), broad prospects attract. Suffice it to recall Mark Zuckerberg - the founder of the social network Facebook: he began to conquer the World Wide Web while still a student. The only thing that can make it difficult to find a job today is the need to obtain a permit from the place of study. In addition, you can work no more than 20 hours per week.
- Working as a taxi driver in New York. It is mainly immigrants who are engaged in such activities, and not indigenous people. This is explained by the fact that this profession in the United States is the most risky: 8 murders per 100 thousand taxi drivers. That is, according to statistics, even police officers are killed less often, almost 2 times. As for the size of earnings, it differs depending on which organization provides this information. For example, UBER publishes such data that the average annual income of a taxi driver is $ 90 thousand.But less interested researchers, in particular the Salary.com site, declares that the average annual salary of a taxi driver in New York is almost $ 52 thousand.
Working conditions and requirements for the applicant
In the United States, a 5-day working week with two days off, as usual for Russians, has been established. Its duration is approximately 40 hours. Thus, a working day in New York is about 8 hours.
In real life, this number depends on many factors. Let's give an example, taking as a basis the criterion of the employee's age:
- people aged 16 to 19 work 22.6 hours a week, and 4.52 hours a day;
- the duration of the working week for young people aged 20–24 is 36.4 hours. Accordingly, 7.28 hours per day are spent on labor;
- those who have crossed the age limit at 55 work 40.3 hours a week, and 8.06 hours a day;
- persons aged 25 to 54 work 42.8 hours a week, that is, 8.56 hours a day.
For many foreigners, the issue of providing an employer with a place of residence is important. In New York, there are job advertisements and on such a condition. For example, housing is typically provided for workers hired to care for the elderly and single pensioners.
In addition, seasonal work is practiced in the Big Apple. In the warm season, you can get a job in children's summer camps that operate in the metropolis. The employee lives there for the entire duration of the contract.
Housing is also provided for foreigners who have taken over the watch on the creation of an escalator shaft or laying a tunnel in the New York subway.
A foreigner who has good skills in a certain field of activity can apply for a high-paying job. Otherwise, the employer will give preference to the local.
In addition, depending on the vacancy, the job seeker may have special requirements. For example, the position of a secretary in an office in Brooklyn is provided to a foreigner if he not only speaks English and Russian, but also has computer skills.
How a foreigner can find a job in New York
To find a job in New York, you can start by walking around the city's main streets. Often, the owners of small shops, pubs, restaurants post advertisements on the required personnel on the doors of establishments.
There is a more reliable option - the Russian Bazaar newspaper. In it, emigrants from post-Soviet countries publish information about the vacancies available in their firms.
And, of course, the Internet will help in finding a job in New York. We will indicate three web resources that are most popular with foreigners:
- Monster is the largest portal not only in the USA, but also in the world. It is interesting that the search for vacancies can also be carried out by keywords.
- Craigslist. In addition to job offers, on this site you can find options for renting a living space.
- Indeed. The main advantage is that the search for vacancies can be conducted both on the resource itself and on many other sites.
What is required for work
For official employment, a Russian must have a work visa in the United States of one of six types: R, Q, P, O, L, H. The most often issued:
- H-2A visa. Designed for seasonal work in the horticultural and agricultural industries;
- H-1B visa. Grants doctors temporary residence and employment rights in the United States. It is issued for a period of 1-3 years, after which an extension is allowed for no more than 6 years.
To obtain a work visa of both types, it is required to present an invitation from the employer to the consulate.
Organizations and recruiting agencies
There are many agencies offering job search services in New York. Their payment methodology may differ. This approach is most often used: $ 100 is paid immediately after the application is filed and the same amount after the first salary received. And some ask you to pay:
- $ 1 from the rate of payment for an hour of work for a certain period of time;
- weekly salary.
Below are the most popular employment agencies in New York:
- Clark Davis Associates. The corporate headquarters address is 20 Waterview Boulevard, Suite 115, Parsippany, NJ 07054.
- Employment Agency Ny. The head office address is Brooklyn, 1122 Ave J floor 3, NY 11230.
- Green Key Resources. The company's address is 136 Madison Avenue, 7th Floor.
Salary level in New York
Wages in New York often differ significantly from those in other cities in the country. And in a big way. However, in the Big Apple, there is a gender inequality in pay for work. So, the average salary in New York for men was $ 37 thousand / year in 2021, while the average income for women was $ 32 thousand / year.
As for immigrants from the CIS countries, their earnings are slightly lower. Employers in New York usually, when calculating wages for foreigners, take into account only that its size should not be less than $ 15 / hour, and this threshold, as a rule, does not exceed. Thus, with an 8-hour working day, the migrant's monthly income is $ 2,640 per month or $ 31,680 per year.
What taxes are charged in New York
An officially employed foreigner is obliged to make payments from salaries to budgets of different levels. Let's briefly name only the main taxes in New York.
- Federal tax. A progressive system is applied. The minimum 10% is paid on a salary not exceeding $ 9,525 / year. If a person's income is more than $ 500 thousand, 37% of the amount received is payable, plus $ 150,689.5.
- Contributions to the Medical Insurance Fund (FMS) of pensioners and to the Pension Fund. The tax amount is broken down into the following parts:
- the employer pays 7.65%. Of these, 6.2% are sent to the Pension Fund, and to the FMS - 1.45%;
- the employee pays taxes of the same amount to the Pension Fund from the first 128 thousand dollars per annum, and to the FMS - from the first 200 thousand dollars of annual earnings.
Cost of living and prices in New York
Many people dream of leaving Russia for the United States, and specifically for New York. And, having moved overseas, most of them are in no hurry to return: what they saw meets their expectations.
Since the standard of living in New York is much higher than it was at home, there are many more opportunities to realize oneself. To assess whether the salary offered by the employer is sufficient for a comfortable life in the Big Apple, check out the following data:
- renting a room, depending on the area, will cost between $ 600-1,500. If you rent a separate apartment, you will have to pay:
- in Manhattan - 7 thousand dollars / month;
- in Brooklyn - from 2 thousand dollars / month;
- travel in public transport:
- you will have to pay $ 2.75 for one trip;
- the cost of a 1-month pass is $ 121–130;
- moving around the city by private car:
- gasoline cost - $ 0.7 / l ($ 2.5 gallon);
- monthly insurance - about $ 150;
- parking - from 1 to 3.5 dollars per hour.
Food prices in New York are comparable to those in Moscow.
| Product name | Cost in New York, dollars / rubles | Cost in Moscow, rubles |
|---|---|---|
| Pasta (500 g) | 1,8/115 | 138 |
| Milk (1 liter) | 1,3/83 | 79 |
| Butter (0.25 kg) | 3,9/249 | 203 (for 200 g) |
| Yogurt (390 g) | 3/192 | 125 g - 113 |
| Chicken eggs (dozen) | 1,7/109 | 76 (for ten) |
| Corn flakes (0.5 kg) | 3,6/233 | 210 (for 300 g) |
Penalties for illegal employment
For illegal work, an immigrant will not be sent to jail. He is simply deported from the country. At the same time, it will not be possible to enter the United States:
- within 3 years, if the period of illegal stay did not exceed 180 days;
- within 10 years - with a period of 365 days.
And after the ban on entry to the United States expires, there is hardly a consul who, knowing about a foreigner's past, will issue him a visa. Blacklists of such violators are not unofficially subject to the statute of limitations. So carelessness and the pursuit of momentary profit can deprive a foreigner of the prospects for legal employment in America.
Starting your own business
A foreigner can open his own business in the United States in the following organizational and legal forms:
- private enterprise. Registration in the state in which the business is conducted is required;
- corporation. Registration is carried out at the secretariat of the state and, as a result, a business of this type is assigned an individual federal number;
- partnership. It features a flexible reporting structure and less stringent requirements. You also need to register with the secretariat of the state;
- LLC type enterprise. This is an analogue of our LLC. Interestingly, the tax payment form can be changed every 5 years.
Conclusion
The labor market in New York is highly competitive. Meanwhile, doing work in this city is beneficial for many reasons. First, the largest Russian-speaking diaspora on the North American continent. Secondly, there are always many vacancies in a metropolis. Third, a job well done is always well paid.
