N.Y. state's top employer is healthcare

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Nine of New York state's Top 20 employers are in healthcare, with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System No. 1 with 37,000 employees, researchers say.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System was formed in 1997 with the merger of the North Shore Health System and LIJ Medical Center, creating a healthcare network that includes 16 hospitals, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities, a home care network, a hospice network and progressive care centers.

The list of the Top 20 private employers in 2011 was compiled by the Center for Government Research in Rochester. Since private employee counts are not public information, sources such as local business journals, market research firms and the employers themselves were used to gather the most accurate information, the center said.

The rest of the list included:

-- Walmart with 28,000 employees.

-- JP Morgan Chase with 27,000 employees.

-- Wegmans Food Markets Inc. with 27,000 employees.

-- Verizon with 27,000 employees.

-- Citigroup with 25,000 employees.

-- University of Rochester/Medical Center with 20,000 employees.

-- IBM Corp. with 20,000 employees.

-- NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital with 19,000 employees.

-- Mount Sinai Medical Center with 19,000 employees.

-- New York University/School of Medicine with 18,000 employees.

-- Montefiore Medical Center with 17,000 employees.

-- Macy's Inc with 16,000 employees.

-- Cornell University/Weil Medical with 16,000 employees.

-- Columbia University/Medical Center with 15,000 employees.

-- Morgan Stanley with 13,000 employees.

-- Consolidated Edison Inc. with 12,000 employees.

-- Bank of America with 12,000 employees.

-- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with 12,000 employees.

-- Merrill Lynch with 11,000 employees.

A similar list of New York's top employers compiled by the state's Labor Department in 1984 listed no healthcare facilities in the Top 10:

-- Chase Manhattan.

-- Consolidated Edison.

-- Eastman Kodak.

-- First National City Bank.

-- General Electric.

-- General Motors.

-- Grumman Aerospace.

-- IBM Corp.

-- Manufacturers Hanover.

-- New York Telephone.