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Testimony Presented to the New York City Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor
February 27, 2014. In testimony presented before the New York City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee, FPI’s James Parrott summarized several employment, wage and cost of living trends affecting low-wage workers in New York City. He noted that 37 percent of all wage-earners in the city are paid less than $15 an hour, and that half of all black and Latino workers are low-wage by this measure. Parrott discussed several groups of low-wage workers and suggested policy steps the City could take to raise [...]
New report confirms New York’s profound income polarization
February 19, 2014. A new report from the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) that presents data on income distribution trends for all 50 states from 1917-2011, confirms an analysis of income trends in New York that the Fiscal Policy Institute initially published in 2010. The report, by economists Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price, builds on a groundbreaking study by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanual Saez in 2003 that used data from income tax returns to document rising inequality in the United States since World [...]
Events Honoring Frank J. Mauro
Two events were held honoring the contributions of Frank J. Mauro, Executive Director Emeritus: Wednesday, March 12, 2014 in Albany and Thursday, May 1, 2014 in New York City.
Why New York State Should Let Cities and Counties Enact Higher Local Minimum Wages
February 14, 2014. While New York’s economy is gradually recovering, far too many workers still earn very low wages. Pay for the typical New Yorker has not kept up with inflation, and the majority of new jobs being created in New York and nationally are in low paying fields. As communities in New York struggle with these serious economic challenges, other states have empowered localities to respond by adopting higher local minimum wages. From California to Maryland, growing numbers of cities and counties are enacting [...]
Testimony at the New York City Council Education and Women’s Issues Committees
February 11, 2014. James Parrott testified before the New York City Council Education and Women's Issues Committees on Feb. 11, 2014, on the subject of Mayor deBlasio's Universal Pre-Kindergarten and After-School Proposals. Parrott supported the notion that there should be a dedicated funding stream to pay for these proposals financed by an increase in the top rate on the City's personal income tax. He examined the proposed increase in historical perspective, reviewed the issue of migration in response to local and state tax differentials, and [...]
Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2014-2015 Executive Budget – Taxes
February 10, 2014. Executive Director Fred Floss testified before the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees on the Governor’s 2014-2015 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan. Floss noted the proposal for FY2015 is contractionary, since it cuts $2 billion in expenditures and only reduces taxes by $480 and will therefore be a drag on economic growth in New York State. He also commented on a number of tax proposals including the property tax freeze, corporate tax reductions and the estate tax proposal. If implemented, [...]
Immigrants and Detroit’s Rebirth
February 5, 2014. In an opinion piece that ran in the Detroit News, Andrew Wainer makes the case that immigrants can be an important part of a strategy for economic revitalization of Detroit. While the jumping-off point of the article is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's proposal for highly skilled immigrants who would be tethered to Detroit by a geographically restricted Visa, Wainer makes the case that it's not just highly skilled immigrants who count, and that regular immigration, without special Visas, have been an important [...]
Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2014-2015 Executive Budget Proposal – Human Services
February 4, 2014. Submitted by Carolyn Boldiston, FPI’s Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst. Testimony includes: recommendations for the 2014-2015 state fiscal year; review of actual and proposed reductions in human services spending; use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding in the 2014-2015 Executive Budget; and, the impact of decline in the purchasing power of the monthly cash assistance grant.
Regional Insights: Pittsburgh Could Use Some Immigrants
February 1, 2014. An opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that, since immigrants are somewhat more likely than U.S.-born workers to be business owners, immigration could also hold economic growth potential for Pittsburgh. FPI has data suggesting that this potential shouldn't be exaggerated, but that there is also real potential there. The article quotes FPI's report on immigrant small business owners, saying: National data show that foreign immigrants are more likely than U.S. natives to form small businesses. A study by the Fiscal Policy [...]