In the face of worrisome job numbers, Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday acknowledged that New York City is facing a difficult labor market, even as he insisted that he is optimistic about certain economic trends.

Asked if the city was facing a jobs crisis, Mr. Mamdani said, “I think we are facing some troubling numbers.”

“But I am incredibly heartened by what we’ve also seen at the same time,” he added. “We’re seeing the highest demand for Manhattan office space in over a decade.”

Mr. Mamdani made his remarks during a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times on Wednesday at City Hall, ahead of his 100th day in office on Friday.

The uncertain economy and New York City’s loss of private-sector jobs are among the more serious problems facing the democratic socialist mayor, who campaigned on making the city a more affordable place for people struggling to get by. Many of the levers that mayors can use to help generate economic growth — tax breaks and other perks to lure corporations here — are an uncomfortable fit with Mr. Mamdani’s stated political values.

That tension was brought into stark relief last week, when the New York State Department of Labor released statistics showing the city lost 19,500 private-sector jobs last year. Those numbers, part of a trend that predated Mr. Mamdani’s mayoralty, stood in contrast to other areas of the state that enjoyed job growth. Last August, job growth in New York City fell to its slowest pace since 2003, with the exception of the pandemic and the Great Recession.