Labor Market Reports

April 15, 2007.  The Underground Economy in New York City's Affordable Housing Construction Industry. This examination of  the affordable housing construction industry reveals evidence of a huge underground economy in which thousands of workers are paid off the books or misclassified as independent contractors. The results include widespread employer evasion of payroll taxes and social insurance premiums, and the undercutting of wage and benefit standards. Press release here. (Please note the April 15 version of the report contained typographical errors in Tables 4 and 7. In the version now available, these tables have been corrected.)

February 13, 2007.  More Than a Link in the Food Chain: A Study of the Citywide Economic Impact of Food Manufacturing in New York City. In an effort to understand the impact of food manufacturing on other sectors in the NYC economy, the Mayor's Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses commissioned the New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN) to study the sector; NYIRN enlisted FPI to conduct the formal economic impact analysis.

January 25, 2007, with addendum of February 5, 2007.  New York State Workers' Compensation: How Big Is the Coverage Shortfall? Between 500,000 and a million New York workers who should have workers' compensation coverage do not, and the system's revenues are $500 million to $1 billion lower than they should be. Fragmented responsibility for enforcement has allowed employers to provide unemployment insurance but not workers' compensation coverage to some workers; in other cases employers misclassify employees as consultants to keep them out of both systems.

August 2006.  New York's Big Picture: A Report to the New York Film, Television and Commercial Initiative. FPI worked with researchers from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and City and Regional Planning Department on this study of New York's film, television and commercial production industries. Among the findings: Including direct, indirect and induced effects, the total value added by these industries in New York was an estimated $13.1 billion in 2005, considerably higher than previous estimates of the film sector's impact.

April 2006.  The New York City Construction Labor Market (PDF). This labor market profile was prepared by the Fiscal Policy Institute for the NYC Employment and Training Coalition and NYC Workforce Investment Board. Among the findings: New York City construction employment, now about 250,000 workers, is likely to expand considerably over the next five years. Construction workers residing in the city are overwhelmingly male, and nearly 63 percent of construction workers are non-white. They earn a median wage of $14.90.

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December 9, 2005.  New York City’s Labor Market Outlook with a special emphasis on Immigrant Workers. (PDF)

September 15, 2005.  New National Report Offers Sobering Look at Trends in New York's Early Childhood Education Workforce.

June 2005.  Prospects for Information Technology Jobs in New York’s Finance Sector (PDF), prepared for the CUNY Institute for Software Design and Development.

August 19, 2002.  Labor Market Trends and Issues in the New York City Non-Profit Social Services Sector.   

July 29, 2002.  Labor Market Trends and Issues in the New York City Securities Industry.

March 8, 2002.  The Employment Impact of the September 11 World Trade Center Attacks: Updated Estimates based on the Benchmarked Employment Data.