Must Read

Immigrant “Main Street” Business Owners Playing an Outsized Role

January 14, 2015. Immigrants are a little more likely to own businesses than their U.S.-born counterparts, but they are a lot more likely to own Main Street businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants, and barber shops, finds a new study released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Immigrants make up 16 percent of the labor force and 18 percent of business owners, but 28 percent of Main Street businesses (defined as retail, food services and accommodation, and [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:21-05:00January 13th, 2015|Migration, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Reform of NY’s TDI Program and Provision of Family Leave Insurance: Estimated Costs

June 5, 2014. In this report, FPI estimates costs for increasing workers' weekly wages during temporary disability leaves and extending those benefits to family leaves under proposed legislation in the Assembly and Senate. As an increasing number of women and mothers participate in the workforce, federal and state laws and policies have not met the needs of both male and female workers who must balance taking care of themselves and their families with the responsibilities of work. Under Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) in New York, [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2025-04-04T14:27:27-04:00June 5th, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|

Case Studies Examine Shale Drilling’s Mixed Legacy

April 11, 2014. New case studies of the impact of shale gas drilling in Carroll County, Ohio; Greene and Tioga counties in Pennsylvania; and Wetzel County, West Virginia, provide numerous cautionary tales for New York as it considers whether or not to allow Horizontal Drilling and High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale and Other Low-Permeability Gas Reservoirs. The case studies, which were completed by the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia organizations that are part of the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, build upon the Collaborative’s [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:26-05:00April 10th, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Examining the Final Report of the Pataki/McCall Commission

December 20, 2013. Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo accepted the final report of the New York State Tax Relief Commission that he had appointed earlier this Fall. This commission, which was co-chaired by former Governor George Pataki and former State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, had been charged by Governor Cuomo with identifying ways to provide property and business tax relief to New York's homeowners and businesses. Today, the Fiscal Policy Institute joined with six of New York’s leading progressive groups in releasing a report analyzing [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:28-05:00December 20th, 2013|City Budget, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

State of Working New York 2013: Workers Are Paying a High Price for Persistent Unemployment

August 28, 2013. New York workers are paying a high price for persistent unemployment four years into the weakest recovery since the Great Depression, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute’s (FPI) 2013 edition of The State of Working New York. The report notes that in addition to lost job opportunities and health benefits, New York workers are suffering from prolonged periods of joblessness, and high rates of underemployment (or “hidden unemployment”), reflecting more discouraged workers who have given up looking for work. Moreover, out-of-work New [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:29-05:00August 28th, 2013|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

“Tax-Free NY” is now “Start-Up NY” – Still Bad Tax Policy, Still Bad Economic Development Policy

July 9, 2013. Despite the concerns raised by economists across the political spectrum, a somewhat revised version (A. 8113 and S. 5903) of Governor Cuomo’s “Tax-Free New York” proposal was introduced on June 20, 2013, passed by both houses of the Legislature on June 21, 2013, and signed into law by the Governor on June 24, 2013. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s June 11, 2013 brief on the original proposal concluded that that it was bad tax policy and bad economic development policy. Now recast at [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:29-05:00July 9th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Immigration Reform Would Improve Economic Productivity

June 4, 2013. A new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute shows that legalizing undocumented immigrants, paired with labor standards enforcement, would boost economic productivity. Reform would remove barriers to advancement for newly legalized immigrants, create a level playing field for businesses, and align our systems of taxation, social services, and social insurance so that they would function as they are supposed to. “Immigration reform, done right, would be good for immigrants, but it would also be good for all Americans,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:52-05:00June 12th, 2013|Migration, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Tax-Free New York – Bad Tax Policy, Bad Economic Development Policy

June 11, 2013. This brief concludes that Tax-Free New York is bad tax policy and bad economic development policy. From a tax policy perspective, the Tax-Free NY proposal is inconsistent with the two long-established pillars of tax fairness—horizontal equity and vertical equity. In addition, New York State's past experience with geographically-targeted business tax incentives should raise huge red flags regarding the efficacy of the proposal as an economic development strategy. Besides being diametrically opposed to the principles of tax fairness, the idea of exempting the [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:52-05:00June 11th, 2013|Economic Trends & Policy, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

Barriers to Entry: The Increasing Challenges Faced by Young Adults in the NYC Labor Market

May 2, 2013. A new report from JobsFirstNYC and co-authored by James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute, and Lazar Treschan, Director of Youth Policy, Community Service Society, takes an in-depth look at both the supply and demand dimensions of the job market faced by New York City’s 18- to 24-year-old young adult population. Barriers to Entry: The Increasing Challenges Faced by Young Adults in the New York City Labor Market looks at changes in the city's labor market over the past decade [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:54-05:00May 2nd, 2013|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

The Gilded City of New York

April 18, 2013. In a special issue of The Nation that includes over 20 stories about New York City under Mayor Bloomberg, a picture is painted of a two-tiered urbanism. The lead story by The Nation's editors describes the heightened income polarization in New York City and cites data from various FPI analyses, including Pulling apart: The continuing impact of income polarization in New York State. Here is New York in 2013: a city of dazzling resurrection and official neglect, remarkable wealth and even more [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:54-05:00April 18th, 2013|Blog, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read|

Walmart and other large, low-wage employers will benefit financially from New York’s new Minimum Wage Reimbursement Credit.

April 5, 2013. Unless disclosure requirements are clarified, we’ll probably never know exactly how much Walmart and other large, low-wage employers receive in government subsidies under New York’s new Minimum Wage Reimbursement Credit (MWRC). But based on the best data available, we estimate that Walmart is likely to receive MWRC subsidies of between $53 million and $85 million over the next five years. New York’s new MWRC will provide employers a tax credit for the hours worked by students between the ages of 16 and [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:54-05:00April 5th, 2013|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|

NYS DREAM Legislation: A Strong Return on Investment

February 27, 2013. A proposal is gaining ground in New York State that would allow all students—including those who are undocumented immigrants—equal access to the state's Tuition Assistance Program. Last year, the Fiscal Policy Institute published an analysis of the costs and benefits of the proposal. This new report digs deeper into the fiscal and economic benefits to New York State, and shows that if the proposal were financed through the income tax the cost to a typical taxpayer would be 87¢, the price of [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:27:57-05:00February 27th, 2013|Migration, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

A federal minimum wage hike would help 1.5 million New York workers and our economy

August 14, 2012. One of the best ways to speed up economic growth is to give a lift to the wages of the lowest paid workers. Legislation awaits action now in Washington, D.C., that would boost the federal minimum wage in three 85 cent steps from $7.25 to $9.80 an hour. According to new estimates released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), this proposal would benefit 1.5 million New York workers, raising their pay by $2 billion over three years. Nationally, more than 28 [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-18T12:28:15-05:00August 14th, 2012|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read|