January 19, 2012. A briefing document by James A. Parrott, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute.

January 12, 2012. Governor Cuomo emphasizes the need to close loopholes. This column by Frank Mauro  – excerpt below – was published by 99% New York.

Delivering on this objective will require an unbiased review of the litany of tax breaks that have enacted over the years in the name of economic development. Which ones actually create jobs and which ones do not? Which ones should be retained intact, which ones should be repealed, and which ones should… (read more)

December 2, 2011. A presentation by James Parrott at the Center for Working Families’ 2011 NYS policy conference: Good Ideas in Hard and Exciting Times: Policies for New York’s 99%. The last two slides show the overall regressivity of the New York State and New York City tax systems.

November 29, 2011. New data show that New York families face smaller incomes, fewer opportunities, more hardship. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s 2011 annual edition of the State of Working New York examines how bad the Great Recession and the not-so-great “recovery” have been for the wages and incomes of typical New Yorkers. Of the 504,000 jobs lost, 80 percent are wage and salary positions, and about 20 percent represent fledgling businesses that haven’t been started because of the difficult economic… (read more)

November 22, 2011. FPI’s James A. Parrott delivered testimony detailing the following points: There is no evidence from other cities to show that living wage ordinances are harmful either for workers directly affected or for the broader local economies. The Charles River Study is seriously flawed in both its labor market and its real estate analyses, and should not be used to inform decisions on this issue. The City should return to the question of how its considerable economic… (read more)

October 11, 2011. Enhanced MTA investments could create good jobs and bolster New York’s recovery. While unemployment news remains bleak across the state and country, a recently released white paper, Building New York’s Future: Creating Jobs and Business Opportunities Through Mass Transit Investments, points to the benefits of a broad transit manufacturing strategy. A new group – Building New York’s Future – has formed with the mission of developing and implementing a mass-transit related economic development strategy, building political… (read more)

October 5, 2011. Working together, the National Employment Law Project, FPI, and Good Jobs New York find that the study released today ignores basic flaws flagged months ago, flaws in both factual assumptions and research methodologies. And, the study’s relevance is questionable, since it fails to account for changes to the living wage proposal announced this month, which clarify that the proposal will not cover the most of the project types comprising the bulk of the study. The study –… (read more)

October 3, 2011. New numbers from FPI’s Immigration Research Institute show that immigrants make up almost half of all small business owners in New York City. And, immigrants in the labor force are somewhat more likely than U.S.-born workers to own small businesses. Immigrant small business owners are an extremely diverse group, with no single country of origin dominating; in fact, the top ten groups together still make up just 45 percent of the total number of immigrant small business… (read more)

September 27, 2011. This white paper finds that as New York comes out of the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, the state can and should pursue a mass transit-related manufacturing strategy, positioning itself as a leader in sustainable transportation while creating good, middle class jobs for New Yorkers. Working toward broad political commitment and securing adequate funding for New York’s transit authorities’ capital and operating budgets, and for national mass transit infrastructure, are necessary complements.

September 26, 2011. Prepared by FPI for the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the latest issue of the BLMR finds that Brooklyn led all boroughs in job creation and in new firm creation over the last decade. During this period, Brooklyn added 50,000 jobs while the while New York City as a whole lost 16,000. The borough added not only hundreds of restaurants and retail shops but also health care, business and professional service companies.