Fact Sheet: New York State’s Economy
Population growth, widening inequality, and cost-of-living strains
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.
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.
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.
State Economic Update: Recession Unlikely, Tax Receipts Stable
Recent revisions to economic forecasts have significantly lowered expectations of a recession. This has positive implications for the State’s fiscal outlook, as improved economic performance should translate into higher tax receipts.
Personal Income Tax Revenue Exceeds Projections in Mid-Year Financial Plan
In its Mid-Year Financial Plan Update, the New York State Division of the Budget (DOB) reported that tax revenues continue to exceed previous projections. Personal Income Tax (PIT) receipts continue to outperform expectations — bringing in $48.95 billion — nearly $2 billion more than projected in the enacted budget financial plan and $500 million more than projected in the first quarterly update to the financial plan. Through the first half of the fiscal year, PIT receipts exceeded enacted and first quarter projections by 17 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
FPI Statement on New NYS Labor Data and Comptroller DiNapoli’s Labor Force Report
Nathan Gusdorf, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, today released the following statement: “Recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today reveal New York State added 456,000 jobs from June 2021 to June 2022, which represents a 5.1% annual increase — making New York the fifth fastest growing job market in the United States."
Fact Sheet: State and Local Government Employment Has Been Largely Static, With Full-Time Jobs Eliminated in Critical Areas
Full-time employment in state government jobs grew by only 1 percent in New York State between 2010-2019, with the number of those employed totaling just over 236,000 in 2019. At the same time, local government employment decreased by 1 percent for full-time employees, with the number of employed totaling just over 882,000 in 2019, down from 893,000 in 2010. Full-time employment losses in both state and local government affected the areas of health, natural resources, and social and public welfare. Employment losses in health and [...]
Fact Sheet: Black New York Workers Have Been Hit Hard By The Pandemic Statewide
THE COVID‐19 PANDEMIC HAD AN UNPRECEDENTED EFFECT ON THE JOBS AND INCOMES OF NEW YORK STATE RESIDENTS, in addition to upending social norms and taking the lives of thousands. However, the pandemic’s burden was not evenly distributed across our population. The Fiscal Policy Institute found that Black workers statewide, who already had a higher rate of unemployment prior to the pandemic, experienced even greater losses. Our first analysis compares the employment measures among Black New Yorkers between March to November 2019 and March to November [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Pandemic Economics Demand A Diverse Response
October 14, 2020 In light of New Jersey's adoption of a millionaires tax to help fill a statewide revenue hole caused by the coronavirus, many asked what about New York? Like New Jersey, New York was hard hit by the pandemic, and its economy continues to suffer. Like New Jersey, New York has historic fiscal problems with a budget shortage of $14.5 billion this year, and in the tens of billions of dollars over the next several years. Like New Jersey, we continue to wait on the federal government [...]
Over 40% of New Yorkers Uncounted as Feds Call for Early Halt to 2020 Census
8/4/2020 On Monday, August 3, 2020, the Census Bureau issued a statement, confirming reports that it plans for all 2020 census counting efforts to be cut four weeks short of what was expected. This is the federal administration’s latest attempt to inject an element of chaos and intimidation into what should be a unifying and democratic process. In April, the Census Bureau asked all households to respond to its 10-question survey either online or by mail. For those who did not respond, there has been [...]
New York Must Act Now to Support Excluded Workers
Workers and families left without support for months Read the full report: Unemployment Compensation for Excluded Workers: Helping New Yorkers, Boosting the Local Economy (Albany, NY) State unemployment benefits were expanded in significant ways for most New Yorkers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. However, tens of thousands of New York workers and their families were left adrift without federal or state assistance. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s new report shows that our state can act to create and fund a system to support these workers. [...]
Second Round of Economic Impact Payments Needed
Millions of New Yorkers remain unemployed due to COVID-19. With federal assistance set to end in July, the situation is dire as these payments were used to cover basic essentials for workers and their families - and those who were excluded from CARES Act support and state unemployment assistance continue to struggle. The facts are stark. "Over 9.3 million New Yorkers—48 percent of the state’s population—received Economic Impact Payments (EIP) totaling over $15 billion by May 22, 2020. Undocumented immigrants, as well as married couples [...]