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Public Testimony Integral to New York’s State Budget Process

New York State’s constitution requires the governor to provide the state legislature with a yearly balanced budget proposal including the necessary appropriation bills and legislation. The Legislature reviews the proposed executive budget and offers changes or modifications and enacts the state budget. As is customary, Governor Cuomo presented his proposed Executive Budget for FY 21-22 in January which was followed by a review and analysis from both legislative houses. The Assembly Ways and Means Committee’s Review and Analysis of the 2021-22 Executive Budget is known [...]

Anthony Troia2021-02-23T16:26:23-05:00February 23rd, 2021|Blog, NYS Budget, NYS Tax Policy, Statements & Public Testimony , Tax & Budget, Testimony|

After the Applause: Legal Status for Essential Workers

In the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic last spring, Americans embraced a new concept: Essential Workers. In many areas, we applauded for them every night at 7pm: they kept us going through this difficult period, and we knew they were taking a risk to their own health in doing it. We also knew that many of those workers are undocumented. In recognition of the service they provided to this country during a time of crisis, congress and the president should act today to give those [...]

david2021-02-12T16:14:55-05:00February 12th, 2021|Blog, Immigration, Other States & National|

NYS Enhanced Services for Refugees: Now Is the Time to Expand

The New York State Enhanced Services to Refugees Program (NYSESRP) began in 2017 as a response to the federal government’s retreat from refugee resettlement. New York State was first in the nation to provide state funding to support refugee integration, a valuable investment in the refugees and asylees who call New York home. New York for Refugees—a coalition of refugee serving agencies, the Fiscal Policy Institute and the New York Immigration Coalition—seeks $5 million in the 2021 budget to expand NYSESRP and grow support for [...]

david2021-02-10T18:17:16-05:00February 10th, 2021|Blog, Immigration, New York State|

Military Coup in Myanmar Reverberates in California, Indiana, New York, and Texas

Over the past week, the military in Myanmar, the country also known as Burma, overthrew the democratically elected government and arrested the top civilian leaders. The United States state department condemned the action, saying “the military must reverse these actions immediately.” These actions are being watched closely, and in horror, by Burmese communities in the United States. To help understand what this means in Burmese communities in the United States, the Fiscal Policy Institute presents here data showing that of the 151,000 people born in [...]

Anthony Troia2021-02-05T14:24:49-05:00February 5th, 2021|Blog, Immigration, New York State, Other States & National|

Arts Central to New York City’s Recovery

As New York looks to restart our economic engine after the pandemic, the arts and culture play a critical role, especially in New York City. Governor Cuomo underscored that connection in his State of the State and New York State budget announcements. "Cities are by definition centers of energy, entertainment, theatre, and cuisine. Without that activity and attraction, cities lose much of their appeal. What is a city without social, cultural, and creative synergies? New York City is not New York without Broadway.” The coronavirus [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-19T12:19:29-05:00January 19th, 2021|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, NYS Budget|

Taxes Fuel Our Communities

You may have heard that New York is a high-tax state. But what does that really mean? If we concentrate solely on personal income taxes in 2019, California tops the list with the highest top rate of 13.3 percent. New York is in the ninth spot with its 8.82 percent. California 13.3% Hawaii 11% Oregon 9.9% Minnesota 9.85% Iowa 8.98% New Jersey 8.97% Vermont 8.95% District of Columbia 8.95% New York 8.82% Wisconsin 7.65% With New York needing to raise revenue to fund [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-11T17:54:07-05:00January 11th, 2021|Blog, NYS Tax Policy|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2021-03-16T15:59:04-04:00January 3rd, 2021|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Employment, Unemployment & Job Quality, FPI in the News, Immigration, New York State|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:27:01-05:00December 30th, 2020|Blog, Employment, Unemployment & Job Quality|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:41:16-05:00December 20th, 2020|Blog, NYS Tax Policy|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:43:49-05:00December 18th, 2020|Blog, Housing|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:45:19-05:00December 18th, 2020|Blog, Employment, Unemployment & Job Quality|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2021-04-06T09:50:13-04:00December 12th, 2020|Blog, Education, Immigration, New York State, Other States & National|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:46:32-05:00December 4th, 2020|Blog, Employment, Unemployment & Job Quality|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:47:04-05:00December 3rd, 2020|Blog, Education|

NYC Labor Market Took a Hard, Sustained Hit from the Pandemic

New York City Residents were hit harder and longer by the pandemic than those in the rest of the state. While both the city and the state have shown job gains since May 2020, the rebound has been modest. The road to recovery is long. Looking at the Employment to Population ratio (EPOP), we can see both are doing worse than during the Great Recession when the New York state EPOP never dropped below 57.7 percent and averaged 59.3 percent over the whole period. The [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:50:13-05:00November 10th, 2020|Blog, Economic Outlook|

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