December 2, 1999. This paper is part of the series Rethinking the Urban Agenda, sponsored by the Century Foundation and the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center. Text of report, tables and charts.
December 2, 1999. The Fair Budget Campaign issues its third annual "People's Budget;" a wide range of groups call on Governor and Legislature to InVEST in New York's "human infrastructure." Press release: The Fair Budget Campaign released its third annual People's Budget today, calling for increased investment in the state's most valuable resource: its people. The Fair Budget Campaign is a cooperative project of ten statewide organizations that represent religious, senior citizen, community, student, environmental and taxpayer perspectives. The leaders of the campaign's member organizations [...]
October 27, 1999. An op ed by James A. Parrott, Daily News.
October 1999. In a nutshell: The Minimum Wage and New Yorkers' Hourly Wages Have Declined. Despite sizable growth in the productivity of our nation's economy over the last 30 years, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage has fallen by one-third. · The value of the minimum wage has dropped to less than 40 percent of average hourly earnings, down from over 50 percent in the 1960s. In the 1960s and 1970s, the earnings of a full-time, year-round worker receiving the minimum wage were [...]
September 30, 1999. Press release: The new poverty statistics released today by the United States Census Bureau show that New York's poverty rate remained high while the national poverty rate continues to fall. The national poverty rate declined for the fifth consecutive year. This year's decline was particularly large, from 13.3% to 12.7%. At the same time, however, New York's poverty rate showed no improvement. Actually New York's poverty rate increased from 16.5% in 1997 to 16.7% in 1998 but the Census Bureau recommends the [...]
September 1999. By Frank J. Mauro. The first minimum wage at the federal level was signed into law in 1938, after several states including New York had enacted their own minimum wage laws. The U. S. Supreme Court had first invalidated such state laws as violating the liberty of contract and then upheld them as a proper exercise of the states' power to protect the public health, safety and welfare. From the very beginning, such laws protected responsible employers from the pressures that could be [...]
September 1, 1999. Prosperity bypasses most New Yorkers. Wages fall, the upstate economy falters, and the ranks of the working poor rise over the 1990s. Press release below. Executive Summary Introduction Chapter 1 - Income Chapter 2 - Wages & Compensation Chapter 3 - Jobs Chapter 4 - New York's Slow & Uneven Growth in the 1990's Chapter 5 - New York's Regions in the 1990's Capital District Central New York Finger Lakes Region Hudson Valley Long Island Mohawk Valley New York City North Country [...]
May 27, 1999. The Upstate Economy: Testimony delivered by Trudi Renwick, Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute, Utica, New York. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the economic development challenges facing Upstate New York. I would like to review the economic situation in the State and then talk about three issues that affect the Upstate Economy: STAR, the difficulty of the welfare-to-work transition for people with no paid work experience even in areas with tight labor markets, and the ability of the State to leverage [...]
May 25, 1999. Legislators and coalition of statewide organizations urge New York to join national move toward greater accountability in the granting of corporate subsidies. Group press release: "State and local taxpayers should get their money's worth from the billions in government subsidies that are given to businesses each year in New York State," declared the Fair Budget Campaign at a press conference this morning at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. The Fair Budget Campaign is a cooperative project of nine statewide organizations that [...]
May 11, 1999. The Upstate Economy: Testimony delivered by James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute, Albany, New York. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the economic development challenges facing Upstate New York. The lagging performance of the upstate economies is a serious issue. Weak job growth for an extended period in the 1990s has restrained income growth and the resulting lack of job opportunities has, unfortunately but not unexpectedly, led many people to give up entirely on New York [...]
April 15, 1999. City Project used this brief (available in pdf) for its Alterbudget agenda. Living Standards in New York City - The Foundation of Quality of Life Any discussion of quality of life in New York City needs to consider what is happening to living standards. Indeed, a decent income that provides for basic human material needs - shelter, food, medical care, clothing, etc. - should be the starting point for gauging a community's "quality of life". In this sense, living standards are the [...]
April 8, 1999. Over 500,000 are women. Press release: A new analysis by the Washington-D.C. based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities confirms that Social Security is our nation's most important safety net program. In New York State, for example, over one million elderly would be living in poverty if it were not for Social Security. This essential social insurance program lifts a over 800,000 elderly New Yorkers out of poverty. Social Security is particularly important to the economic well-being of elderly women, who represent [...]
March 16, 1999 The Honorable John G. Rowland Governor of Connecticut 210 Capitol Avenue Hartford, CT 06106 Dear John: Most states have not been spending all the federal dollars that have been allocated to them under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. According to our budget analysts, states have about $6 billion in unspent funds left over from fiscal years 1997 and 1998. My colleagues and I on the Committee on Ways and Means are fighting to save this money from those [...]
March 10, 1999. This legislation, introduced in the U. S. House of Representatives by Congressman David Minge, is based on a plan developed by officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota. The legislation is intended to reduce the pressure that states and cities currently face to participate in the "Economic War Among the States" by having the federal government tax away the benefits that corporations receive in the form of state and local government subsidies. Main Sponsor: U. S. Representative David Minge (D-Minesota) Co-sponsors: [...]
March 8, 1999. This report from the Fiscal Policy Institute (revised in July 1999) outlines why and how to improve the economic situation of a hard-working but ignored population. Report below; also see press release. Working but Poor in New York Table of Contents Dedication Acknowledgements Executive Summary Working but Poor in New York Many New Yorkers Work but Remain Poor New York's Poverty Rate Has Remained High While the National Rate Has Dropped Steadily Most Poor Families Include a Worker Many Working Families Have [...]