Who's Hiring: NYC's Restaurants, Bars & Hotels

Penny Farrington worked at Merrill Lynch for eight years, but in December, she lost her job.

"No jobs out there, so I decided to go into hospitality industry. I received some training and currently I'm quite successful as a bartender," says the 48-year-old mother, who was out of work for four months.

Farrington illustrates the changes that are happening in New York City's job market. New figures show that the city added nearly 34,000 private-sector jobs in the past year, many of them in leisure and hospitality. The city's restaurants, bars and hotels are boosted in part by the growing number of tourists coming to New York. The number of visitors topped 23 million in the first half of 2010, a nearly 9 percent jump from the same period last year, according to the mayor's office.

In the meantime, Wall Street has lost jobs. Investment banking and securities dealing sectors have shed nearly 9,000 jobs, or 20 percent, and securities brokerage firms have lost 10,000 jobs, or 17 percent, since last summer.

Farrington doesn't miss her job at Merrill Lynch and working 12-hour days and weekends. "The mental stress of having to hit your numbers, get your bonus, meet your deadlines -- it's just very stressful," she says.

These days as a bartender, she works nine hour shifts, three days a week, and she says she's happier, even though she acknowledges there are financial trade-offs. Farrington doesn't get health care benefits and is making two-thirds of what she used to as a senior specialist in Merrill Lynch's risk management department.

And Farrington isn't the only one losing money in this equation. As New York has lost high-paying jobs in finance and gained lower-paying jobs in hospitality, the city and state have lost tax revenue to pay for teachers and police officers.