If you woke up on New Year’s Day resolving that this will be the year you finally quit complaining about your job and get a new one, your timing is perfect. While the unemployment rate hovers near all-time lows nationwide, jobs in the Big Apple are being created at a faster clip than almost anywhere in the US.

“Overall, job growth in New York City is tremendous,” says Raleen Gagnon, managing director of global market intelligence at ManpowerGroup Solutions, one of the largest recruitment firms in the world.

Why the boom? New York City is now the birthplace of more than 7,000 new startups, it houses some of the world’s largest finance, fashion, entertainment and technology employers and is a mecca for tourists who eat, sleep, shop and consume here. And, as the nation’s largest city, it has a budget of more than $89 billion, much of which will be paid out to city workers.

For New Yorkers, this translates not only to choices in employers and professions, but also whether they want to be on someone’s payroll, hang their own shingles or work a series of gigs. As a result, companies who need to hire find themselves in an interesting predicament. What can they do to win the talent that everyone else needs, too?

“We’re increasingly watching our clients step up their games and make stronger offers,” says Jonathan Silverman, a recruiter at Atlas Search in Midtown.

We’re not just talking about money. “It could also be a flexible schedule or the number of days off. There are lots of ways to negotiate,” says Gagnon.

Needless to say, the hotter the job, the greater your leverage. We looked at data and reports from the Conference Board, Indeed, LinkedIn, ManpowerGroup, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and Tech:NYC, and these are some of the areas where jobs are growing the fastest.

Number crunchers needed

Thanks to the booming economy and regulators who force companies to comply with a gazillion regulatory rules, the demand for workers in accounting and finance in New York City is growing at as much as 83 percent, according to ManpowerGroup. Hot job titles range from auditors, to certified public accountants to tax accountants. “This is unlike any market we’ve ever seen,” says Silverman.

Deliverers in demand

The need to hire people to move goods to, from and across the city, and then door to door, is huge — and it keeps growing. All it takes to get started in this profession is a set of feet, wheels and an ability to follow directions; although, in some cases, a state ID, driver’s license and good driving record are also required.

Jobs can be found in person at small businesses and restaurants, on Web sites, or by simply signing up on apps like Amazon Flex, Grubhub for Drivers, Postmates Fleet and others.

Leading-edge tech

Right now, New York is generating these jobs more quickly than Silicon Valley. The demand for blockchain developers, data scientists, machine learning specialists and software developers is growing faster than the city’s universities, worker development organizations and tech boot camps can train them. Consequently, the New York technology ecosystem has created more than 326,000 jobs, according to Julie Samuels, executive director of Tech:NYC, a group that represents New York-based tech firms. And with Amazon and Google expanding their presence in the city, 31,000 entirely new jobs are now in the pipeline.

Some of the jobs this industry creates aren’t even in technology. “They might be in finance, sales, media, real estate or fashion,” says Samuels, pointing to Spotify, which also hires for roles in areas like artist and label marketing, content programming and marketing strategy.

Blue-collar workers at a premium

The experts were pretty much blindsided by this, but there’s a scarcity of blue-collar workers. Restaurants are having trouble finding enough waitresses, dishwashers and cooks. Building maintenance, HVAC workers, and groundskeepers are in short supply. Never mind home health aides, nursing assistants, hard hats and day laborers.

This might be because “these jobs are not easy,” says Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Conference Board, a highly respected research group which released a report on the new finding in December. Also, baby boomers in these professions are retiring, while millennials and Generation Z are going to college rather that choosing blue-collar careers.

Employers are responding to this by treating these workers better. “Wages are rising rapidly,” says Levanon. “Some blue-collar workers are already making as much as white-collar workers,” he says.



Soon to be Amazonians

Amazon will start hiring in Long Island City later this year and they’ll be bringing in a diverse pool of workers — some 25,000 over the next several years, according to a company spokesperson.

They will be looking for talent in everything from robotics to cloud computing and coding, as well as “people on the business side [and] workers who will keep everything running,” says a company spokesperson. While there will be a wide range of salaries, the average is projected to be $150,000. You can look out for job ads on the Web, as well as Amazon job fairs.

“When we hire, we look for diverse, talented candidates who are passionate about what they do and who want to innovate with us,” says Ardine Williams, vice president of people operations and worldwide human resources at Amazon. “We know firsthand that New York is brimming with talent that is a great fit for Amazon.”