Policy & Research

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, Labor Market & Workforce|

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, Migration|

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, Labor Market & Workforce|

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|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:47:36-05:00December 3rd, 2020|Education, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2021-04-06T12:28:07-04:00November 24th, 2020|Economic Outlook, Migration, Press Releases|

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|

The HEROES Act Should Include Undocumented Taxpayers

Across the United States, undocumented immigrants and their families are still experiencing eviction, food insecurity, hunger, and financial difficulties due to COVID-19. Federal relief has continuously excluded this population of immigrants from income replacement assistance, stimulus payments, and unemployment insurance, which has exacerbated the adverse economic effects on undocumented families. Earlier this year, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to provide financial relief to families who were impacted by COVID-19. Sadly, undocumented immigrants and their families were [...]

Anthony Troia2021-04-06T09:58:19-04:00October 26th, 2020|Blog, Migration|

New York Helps Pave the Way: NY’s Immigrant Inclusive Policies

In localities and states across the U.S., advocates and legislators have been working together to invest in the collective health and well-being of immigrants. This year’s Policy wins have been significant as advocates, and legislators continued to fight back against federal attacks on immigrants, and COVID-19 exposed the already persistent racial disparities. A recent report from the National Immigration Law Center that outlines policy victories in the United States highlighted New York’s commitment to immigrants. Despite the lack of federal leadership in response to [...]

Anthony Troia2021-04-06T09:57:57-04:00October 26th, 2020|Blog, Migration|

Medicaid Cuts Would Put 554,000 Essential Workers in New York at Risk

October 14, 2020 Many of New York’s “essential workers,” people working in jobs deemed necessary throughout the COVID pandemic, rely on Medicaid for their own health care. They risk severe hardship if federal policymakers fail to provide appropriate increases in Medicaid funding or weaken protections for program enrollees, according to a new analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In New York State over half a million, 554,000, essential workers rely on Medicaid. The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:54:20-05:00October 14th, 2020|Blog, Healthcare, Labor Market & Workforce, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

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 [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:53:25-05:00October 14th, 2020|Economic Outlook, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Congress Must Agree on COVID Relief Package in the Next Week

The coronavirus pandemic has hurt us all. It has harmed our physical and mental health and economic well-being. As of September 24, 2020, COVID-19 has sickened over 7.2 million Americans and killed more than 207,000. The pandemic has harmed our economy, causing large-scale business shutdowns, which were ordered to protect public health. Tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs and incomes because of the pandemic, resulting in record-high unemployment rates and a rising need for services in New York State and beyond. Initially, job [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:54:58-05:00September 28th, 2020|Blog, Labor Market & Workforce|

Robust Rental Assistance Needed to Protect Tenants

August 2020 Download the full brief Governor Cuomo has extended the state’s limited eviction moratorium until September 4, 2020 but the application window for the state’s $100 million COVID Rent Relief program closed on August 6, 2020. Many of New York State’s renters require assistance above and beyond the programs and protections currently in place. The COVID Rent Relief program has limitations. It will only provide up to four months of rental assistance for those earning below 80 percent of the area median income (AMI [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T09:55:55-05:00August 26th, 2020|Blog, Housing, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Generating State Revenue Essential for Post-Pandemic Recovery

Billionaire Mark-to-Market Tax Can Raise Over $5.5 Billion To Help Keep New York State Running New York can and must do more to address its budget crisis than wait for federal relief. While the economy has taken a hit, the state can raise enough tax revenue to avoid catastrophic budget cuts—to education, health care, and other crucial services—and add new programs to combat the coronavirus recession by helping those most in need. The Fiscal Policy Institute’s latest report explains how a new type of tax [...]

Anthony Troia2021-02-01T15:36:33-05:00August 12th, 2020|Must Read, Press Releases, Tax Policy|