health care network employed more than 68,000 full-time and full-time-equivalent employees as of Dec. 31.
While the city, state and federal government represented the five largest employers overall, several hospitals and health systems appear in the top-25 ranking.
Memorial Sloan Kettering was the only other system to increase the size of its staff by at least 7.5%, though the cancer treatment and research institution still has less than one-fourth of Northwell's employee total.
Six of the seven hospital systems grew their headcount, with the only drop coming from NYC Health + Hospitals. According to the Preliminary Mayor's Management Report from February, H+H cut its staff by 7.3% in the 2016–2018 period.
Employers were ranked by the number of employees they had last year in the metro area, which includes the five boroughs of New York City and nearby suburbs on Long Island, in Westchester and in New Jersey.