Recent Work
Fiscal Policy Institute Reacts to Governor Cuomo’s State of the State
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2020 Media Contact: communications@fiscalpolicy.org, 518-786-3156 (Albany, NY) Today Governor Cuomo laid out his priorities at the beginning of the New York State 2021 legislative session. Statement from Jonas Shaende, Ph.D., Chief Economist "The 2021 state legislative session will be driven by the pandemic health crisis and economic hurdles. Governor Cuomo highlighted the federal government's role and responsibility to meet the full scope of COVID-19's health and fiscal challenges. That notwithstanding, our state government has a duty to meet all new Yorkers' needs, many of whom were struggling even before the pandemic. The need for immediate relief goes hand in hand with building a more inclusive future that addresses our existing inequities. Creating a fair tax structure, reducing our state's enormous wage gaps, welcoming immigrants, addressing racial disparities, building affordable housing, ensuring just policing, and giving [...]
Long Island’s Immigrants are Integral for its Economic Recovery
County Executive Steve Bellone's editorial in the Long Island Press pointed out the contributions that immigrants make to the area, including the boost they provide to the economy. The Long Island immigrant community is a vital part of our workforce and economy as a whole, with more than half working in white-collar jobs as of 2015. Immigrants make up 18 percent of the combined population of Nassau and Suffolk counties, generating 20 percent of total economic output, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. Learn more by reading FPI's report "New Americans on Long Island" and more from our Immigration Initiative.
Congressional COVID Relief Bill Offers New York Workers Some Needed Relief
New York State’s unemployed workers will soon see some relief from the federal coronavirus relief bill passed on December 21, 2020. The bill provides $300/week in enhanced unemployment compensation (FPUC). It also extends Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) for another 11 weeks. In October and November of 2020, New York’s unemployment rate stood at 10 percent, with over 800,000 unemployed workers. Those most impacted by layoffs include Black workers (at 14 percent unemployed) and Hispanic and Asian workers (both at 13 percent unemployed). Comparatively, 7 percent of white workers were unemployed. Immigrant workers, a category defined as naturalized citizens, green card holders, and undocumented immigrants, had a higher unemployment rate (11 percent) [...]
Tax Revenue Keeps States Running
December 21, 2020 New York, like every other state, relies on tax revenue to provide stable funding for necessary public services. The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly damaging to the state and local governments’ budgets as the necessary mitigation measures have continued to curtail business activity, which in turn depressed tax revenues. Among the most impacted industries are hospitality, tourism, and leisure sectors that employ many low-skilled and immigrant workers. When many workers permanently lose their jobs, the impact is both local and statewide. As people start having difficulties paying for essentials locally, their families suffer, and the whole community [...]
Factsheet: Expiration of CARES Act Unemployment Benefits Will Harm New Yorkers and the Economy
Unemployment claims for the weeks ending December 5 and 12, 2020, are 23 percent higher than claims from the two prior weeks, November 21 and 28. Unemployment in New York State remains historically high, with initial claims for the week of December 12 rising by as much as 400 and 500 percent in some counties. The remaining enhanced unemployment insurance (UI) programs established under the CARES Act will expire on December 26, 2020. Over 1 million New Yorkers will lose benefits when Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) expire. These programs help workers who are either not eligible for regular UI (PUA) or workers who have lost eligibility for regular [...]
New York State’s Tenants Need Immediate Relief
December 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated New York State’s affordable housing crisis. This year’s high unemployment has most affected our state’s minimum wage workers and gig economy workers and has intersected with our state’s lack of safe, decent, and affordable rentals, particularly for those earning at or below 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). To help struggling renters and protect public health, the state legislature passed the Emergency Rent Relief Act of 2020 on May 28, 2020. It created a $100 million COVID Rent Relief program. However, only $40 million was awarded through the program administered by [...]
Cuts to Employment in the State and Local Public Sector will Disproportionately Harm Women and Black Workers
Governor Cuomo supports reducing state spending citing revenue shortfalls that have been fueled by the economic recession that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Reduced or eliminated state funding could mean losing public sector jobs that employ workers in communities statewide. This loss would disproportionately impact women and Black workers who constitute the majority of public sector employees. Historically, the public sector has been an essential employer for women and people of color. Public sector employment has offered a stable path into the middle class with regulated pay requirements, health benefits, and a pension. Losing a public sector job in a pandemic [...]
Recognizing the 10th Anniversary of the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights
The Fiscal Policy Institute was honored to be part of the New York State chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights on Saturday, December 12th. The NDWA is a strong voice for domestic workers across the nation. Domestic workers provide essential work within our homes, from child-care and caregiving to keeping our homes clean and functioning. The majority of domestic workers are women, mostly immigrants, and women of color. FPI will be releasing a report in January, but our preliminary data is available in three factsheets: Domestic Workers: [...]
December Media
FPI is part of the story statewide and nationally. Dominican Today 12/24/2020, FPI cited in "Dominicans in New York are confident in the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine" State of Politics 12/21/2020, FPI cited in "Who Wants to Tax the Rich? These Assembly Lawmakers" Daily News 12/22/2020, FPI cited in "Fiscal watchdogs want transparency from N.Y. over withheld funds" Daily News 12/21/2020, link to FPI provided in "Down to brass tax: Gov. Cuomo is right in a fiscal standoff with the state Assembly speaker" Press-Republication 12/17/2020, Ron Deutsch quoted in "Rich NY'ers would pay more in taxes in plan" Fox [...]
What Does the December Jobs Report Mean for New Yorkers?
December 2020 The monthly jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor reflected the pandemic’s continuing impact on the job market and the economy. A triad of trouble included job growth remaining slow for the fifth straight month, employers scaling back hiring last month, and a stubbornly high unemployment rate of 6.7%, a slight decrease from October’s 6.9% New York State’s latest jobs report won’t be released until the end of December but looking at the last available report from October makes evident our state follows the same trend of job loss, high unemployment, and a slow job market. New York City was especially [...]
The Universal Burden of Education Debt
December 2020 What do you call a loan that has been obtained for the purpose of financing the costs of higher education? A student loan. However, considering the fastest-growing age segment of student loan borrowers are over the age of 60 and are not students themselves, perhaps there is a more suitable term that can be used–education debt. Much like auto debt, mortgages, and credit debt, the term education debt places emphasis on what the debt has been used for, instead of who has used it. Employing the term education debt allows us to paint a more accurate picture of [...]
Student Loan Debt Shortchanges Us All
Economic Recovery Depends on Our Ability to Contribute to the Economy Read the report: “The Rising Burden of Education Debt on Older New Yorkers” December 3, 2020 (Albany, NY) The burden of education debt is not limited to students, it includes their parents and grandparents. Currently, the fastest-growing age-segment of the student loan market is age 60 and older. With New York looking for a speedy economic recovery, solving the education debt crisis means a healthier and more productive state. "Higher education has been portrayed as the key to unlock the door to opportunity and economic security," said Shamier Settle, Policy Analyst. “However, we have a one-size-fits-all approach to financing higher [...]
November Media
Round-up of November media. State of Politics 11/25: FPI report quoted and a link provided to the FPI's new brief "The Pandemic Recession: Hitting Immigrants and People of Color Hardest." in the article “Pandemic Has Hit Immigrants, People of Color Hardest, Report Finds” Capital Tonight 11/25: Interview with David Dyssegaard Kallick, FPI’s Deputy Director and Director of Immigration Research on the new brief "The Pandemic Recession: Hitting Immigrants and People of Color Hardest." Watch the interview. Explica 11/24: FPI quoted and data from “The Pandemic Recession: Hitting Immigrants and People of Color Hardest” featured in “Latinos continue to be the minority [...]
Holiday Season Underscores the New Yorkers’ Need for Support as Pandemic Deepens Inequity
Read the report: The Pandemic Recession: Hitting Immigrants and People of Color Hardest (Albany, NY) — The holiday season is beginning in our state as never before with a second COVID wave bearing down on the health and financial stability of New Yorkers. While the COVID-19 is a threat to us all, immigrants and people of color are by far hit the hardest. And undocumented immigrants may be hit harder still since they are concentrated in several of the industries that have seen the biggest employment decline. “New Yorkers across the board are struggling to stay healthy, educate our children, and deal with financial insecurity of the COVID pandemic. But the hardest hit of all are the members of our communities who have the least to fall [...]
COVID-19 Revenue Shortfalls Threaten Increase to Fines and Fees
November 2020 Declining revenues threaten New York State’s Local Governments, starting with steep declines in sales tax revenue collections. This revenue stream, which annually totals just over $16 billion for New York State’s counties, cities, towns, villages, and school districts, is expected to shrink precipitously in 2020 and into 2021, exceeding the six percent decline realized during The Great Recession.[i] At the same time, the state’s property tax cap limits local governments’ ability to bolster local revenues. Moreover, Congress’s continued decision not to pass a critical COVID relief package and flat funding from the Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) [...]