NEW YORK, NY October 15, 2008 —New York City could lose as many as 165,000 jobs over the next two years as the financial meltdown ripples beyond Wall Street. That's according to a new economic forecast from City Comptroller Bill Thompson.

The job loss projection is nearly double the 85,000 forecast in July. And Thompson says he doesn't know how much worse it will get.

THOMPSON: I don't think anybody fully knows. We still don't know, you look at wall street, what's gonna be the actual job loss numbers there. I don't think anybody knows. We can look and make predictions but it's never sure. What does this mean for the full economy? How quick to things bounce back? How soon will the credit market unfreeze?

REPORTER: Thompson's report due out later today says the city's economy is showing more of the deteriorating nationwide trends it had resisted for so long.