Economic Trends & Policy

How New Mexico Will Pay for Universal Childcare

New Mexico will allow residents of all income levels receive childcare subsidies—what lessons can New York learn? Download PDF Starting November 1, 2025, New Mexico will remove all income limits for its childcare assistance program, allowing New Mexico residents of all income levels to receive childcare subsidies. Currently, income limits are set at 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), meaning only those who earn less than $128,600 per year are eligible. About 30,000 families currently receive childcare subsidies, and [...]

Andrew Perry2025-10-29T17:29:53-04:00October 29th, 2025|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Education, Featured on Home, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

New Data Confirm Tax Flight Is A Myth

New York State often faces calls for higher tax revenue, whether due to concerns over revenue shortfalls or a desire to increase public spending. This brief assesses the soundness of raising revenue through the Personal Income Tax, examining the fiscal stability of such revenue, fundamental fairness considerations, and responses to common arguments against raising the state income tax.

Emily Eisner2025-10-10T11:44:10-04:00October 9th, 2025|Economic Trends & Policy, Featured on Home, Migration, Policy & Research, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Tax Policy|

New Data Show Rising Inequality, Strong Wage Growth for Top Earners

New data released this morning show that inequality is rising in New York, with income gains for the state’s richest residents driving statewide wage growth well above the national average.

Nathan Gusdorf2025-09-11T11:14:41-04:00September 11th, 2025|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Press Releases|

FPI Testifies to the Rent Guidelines Board

Rent Guidelines Board votes to lower range of possible rent increases for 2-year leases Download the Slides Watch the Testimony Last Thursday, FPI’s Chief Economist, Emily Eisner, testified to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) of New York City, at the invitation of one of the Board’s Tenant members, Adán Soltren. Dr. Eisner's testimony made the case that current economic conditions and uncertainty regarding federal housing and safety-net policy demand that the RGB [...]

Fiscal Policy Institute2025-05-28T09:46:01-04:00May 28th, 2025|Economic Trends & Policy, Housing, Testimony|

New York Employment Impacts from Medicaid Cuts

A reduction of $10 billion in federal Medicaid funding would result in the direct loss of over 78,000 jobs in healthcare across the state and over 136,000 additional jobs lost through economic spillovers.

Emily Eisner2025-05-22T00:44:19-04:00May 22nd, 2025|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Healthcare|

Has New York Already Entered Stagflation?

Stagflation is the deadly combination of low growth and high inflation. With the implementation of sweeping and high tariffs by the federal government, most economists and forecasters currently predict something resembling “stagflation” on the Unites States’ economic horizon. But New York may have already entered a period of stagflation: New York’s economy has recovered the jobs lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, but lags the economic growth seen in the rest of the country.

Emily Eisner2025-05-05T22:52:51-04:00May 6th, 2025|Economic Trends & Policy, Featured on Home|

The Urgent Need to Raise Unemployment Benefits

Unemployment insurance stabilizes the state economy during economic downturns, but New York’s UI system has been insolvent for decades and UI benefits are inadequate to keep workers out of poverty.

Emily Eisner2025-04-09T14:34:17-04:00April 7th, 2025|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, State Budget, Tax Policy|

Fact Sheet: New York State’s Economy

Population growth, widening inequality, and cost-of-living strains

Emily Eisner2025-01-29T23:14:21-05:00January 29th, 2025|Economic Outlook|

The Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Mass Deportation

New York’s economy depends on immigrants, including those without documentation. Deportation of these workers would dramatically decrease affordability and availability of food, homes, and care—all basic needs for New Yorkers.

Fiscal Policy Institute2025-01-23T08:43:40-05:00January 23rd, 2025|Economic Outlook, Labor Market & Workforce|

New Census Data Show Population Growth as well as Continuing Affordability Challenges

Census data released last month show that New York’s population growth has returned to pre-Covid patterns, characterized by both overall population growth and affordability pressure driving many working and middle-income New Yorkers to leave the state.

Emily Eisner, Andrew Perry2025-01-18T01:24:52-05:00January 16th, 2025|Economic Trends & Policy, Migration|

Who is Leaving New York State? Part II: Social Characteristics

The Fiscal Policy Institute today released a new report in its state migration series, "Who Is Leaving New York State? Social and Labor Characteristics", which finds that affordability — and in particular housing and the cost of raising a family — are increasingly driving State population loss.

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-19T23:49:43-05:00June 3rd, 2024|Featured on Home, Migration, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Debunking Common Misconceptions about the Size of the State Budget

Under the fiscal year 2025 executive budget, inflation-adjusted state funding would fall for a third consecutive year. While State spending rose in response to Covid, it will return to its pre-Covid trend by fiscal year 2025.

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-26T17:13:43-05:00March 29th, 2024|Blog, Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Featured on Home, Policy & Research, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, State Budget, Tax & Budget|

State Economic Update: Economy Recovers While Inequality Rises

Despite New York’s aggregate economic strength, the state faces real economic challenges. First, the Covid-19 pandemic induced a sustained decrease in total employment in the State relative to the rest of the country — in other words, while the rest of the United States has recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic employment, New York remains over 100,000 jobs below its pre-pandemic level as of the end of 2023. Second, poverty rates, which reached a 30-year low in 2020, have been climbing since the pandemic — a sign that New York faces real challenges in meeting the needs of its population. And third, New York’s income inequality remains amongst the highest in the country.

Emily Eisner, Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-19T09:21:23-05:00January 15th, 2024|Economic Outlook|

Latest Census Data, Combined with FPI Analysis, Reveal New York Losing Working and Middle Class

The latest Census data should serve as a red flag for policy makers: New York is losing more residents than any other state in the nation.

Fiscal Policy Institute2025-01-19T23:56:04-05:00December 19th, 2023|Migration, Press Releases|

Who is Leaving New York State? Part I: Income Trends

A groundbreaking new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute, “Who Is Leaving New York State? Income Trends” reveals for the first time that the richest New Yorkers are far less likely to move out of New York than working and middle-class New Yorkers in normal, non-Covid years. While this pattern temporarily changed during Covid, when all households earning over $170,000 significantly increased their likelihood of moving out of state, migration trends reverted to normal in 2022.

Fiscal Policy Institute2024-12-20T00:05:54-05:00December 5th, 2023|Migration, Must Read, Press Releases, State Budget, Tax Policy|