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The Working Life

Signs of Economic Promise Are Offering Some Hope for the New Year

After demanding better pay and more opportunities alongside other workers, Valery Jourdan, a sales associate at Zara, is getting a $2.50-an-hour raise.Credit...Edwin J. Torres for The New York Times

The news came in a text: All employees at Zara clothing stores would receive raises in the first month of the new year. Valery Jourdan, a sales associate at Zara, directed a dubious eye at her cellphone. Really? Really?

“How much is it? Fifty cents?” she texted the co-worker who had sent her the message.

But to Ms. Jourdan’s amazement, she learned that she would be getting a raise of $2.50 an hour. And that’s not all: Zara is also increasing the number of full-time positions in its stores, handing a victory to Ms. Jourdan and other Zara workers who have demanded better pay and more opportunities after being relegated to part-time jobs with unpredictable schedules.

Small potatoes, you say? Not to Ms. Jourdan, who was earning $10.50 an hour. Now, she says, she might be able to save up for a little vacation. She might even get a full-time position as a store manager.

Suddenly, the new year feels full of possibility.

Hourly employees across New York City are hoping to see their protests for better hours and wages bear fruit in 2015. Economists say the country is shaking off its doldrums, producing more jobs and higher pay, though not necessarily for everyone. (New York’s minimum wage inched up to $8.75 an hour — from $8 an hour — on Dec. 31.)

Whether the economy is finally poised to deliver a significant boost to struggling New Yorkers remains to be seen. The signs of economic promise — and lingering hardships — are palpable for many of the people who shared their stories with me over the past year.

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Jelani Thomas spent six months searching for work after graduating from Brooklyn College. He finally snared a full-time position as an outreach coordinator at Brooklyn Community Services, a nonprofit agency.Credit...Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Jelani Thomas, who spent six months searching for work after graduating from Brooklyn College, secured a full-time position as an outreach coordinator at Brooklyn Community Services, a nonprofit agency.

“I’m on top of the world,” said Mr. Thomas, 23, who earns $40,000 a year.

James D. Hoff, who struggled to make ends meet as an adjunct lecturer, found his dream job as an assistant professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. It is a full-time, tenure-track position that typically pays $63,000 to $68,000 a year, roughly three times what he had earned as an adjunct.

“A huge weight has lifted off my shoulders,” Dr. Hoff, who has a wife and a 2-year-old daughter, said.

Of course, the recent upswing in this economic recovery has offered much more modest benefits to most workers. After five years of decline in the city’s median family income, a recent study by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that it had increased to $58,012 in 2013, up 3.5 percent from the previous year. Nationally, an unexpected jump in both hourly and weekly earnings in November, along with the declining unemployment rate, cheered economists.

Hold your applause: The city’s median family income is still lower than it was at the onset of the Great Recession. It was $61,189 in 2008. And the wage gains for lower-paid workers in November were still quite small.

Gregory Brandon, a cook who rejoiced when he found a job on one of the coldest days of 2014, prays that this will be the year that buoys his prospects.

He lost his job, which paid $13 an hour, in August. He found another cooking position in September, but by then his life was beginning to unravel. By December, he was estranged from his wife and living in a homeless shelter.

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James D. Hoff, with his 2-year-old daughter, found his dream job as an assistant professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.Credit...Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

“I’m bearing with it,” Mr. Brandon said.

Marty Singer, who spent 37 years climbing the corporate ladder at J & R Music before it closed in April, is still coping with ups and downs, too. After finding a job as a corporate sales manager in August, he was laid off last month along with four others.

Mr. Singer, 57, was heartbroken. But all the talk about the economy’s momentum gives him hope: “I’m feeling very positive that the next opportunity will be even better.”

Workers at the Manhattan locations of Zara, the main brand of Inditex, based in Spain, signed petitions and demanded better working conditions last year with the support of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and the Retail Action Project, a workers advocacy group that is financed by foundations and the union.

Coromoto Atencio, a communications specialist for Inditex, declined to say whether the company’s plan to raise wages and expand opportunities for its American employees resulted from the protests. But she said the company views the change as “a great step forward.”

Many questions remain unanswered, however. How many full-time positions will be created? Who will be eligible? How will the new system of commissions be structured?

Ms. Jourdan, 23, who has worked for the company for three years and says she has always dreamed of running her own store, has no idea how it will all shake out. But for the first time in a long time, she is hopeful.

“Finally,” she said, “a little something.”

Email: swarns@nytimes.com Twitter: @rachelswarns

Rachel Swarns would like to hear about your experiences in New York’s work world. Please contact her directly by filling out this brief form. She may follow up with you directly for an interview.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: Signs of Economic Promise Are Offering Some Hope for the New Year. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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