Social Policy

Policy Brief: Schools and Poverty

March 17, 2015. The state can improve low-performing schools and help students who face learning barriers by increasing funding for key education programs and poverty-fighting efforts. Proposals by the governor and the legislature are a start, but still fall short of what is needed. In a report issued in February, the state identified 178 schools in 17 school districts as “priority” or “failing” schools. These schools score in the bottom 5 percent in student proficiency tests or have low graduation rates, or both. The school [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:05-05:00March 17th, 2015|Education, Social Policy, State Budget|
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Policy Brief: Education Tax Credit

March 2, 2015. The Executive Budget includes an Education Tax Credit (ETC) that would provide individuals and businesses with a substantial credit against income taxes owed for donations to private and public schools, or scholarship organizations. The governor’s legislation proposes a 75 percent credit rate, with individual credit amounts capped at $1 million. Any unused credit could be carried over to a subsequent year. Both businesses and individuals would be eligible to receive the credit on personal or corporate income tax returns. Total credits would [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:05-05:00March 2nd, 2015|Education, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|
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Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2015-2016 Executive Budget – Human Services

February 4, 2015. Submitted by Elizabeth McNichol, FPI Senior Fellow. Testimony includes: recommendations for the 2015-2016 state fiscal year; a summary and analysis of actual and proposed reductions in Human Services spending; use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding in the 2015-2016 Executive Budget; and, the impact of decline in the purchasing power of the monthly cash assistance grant.

2024-12-18T12:27:06-05:00February 4th, 2015|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Testimony|
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The Shale Tipping Point: The Relationship of Shale Drilling to Crime, Traffic Fatalities, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Rents in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio

December 14, 2014. A report completed by a research team of the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative found a clear relationship between the density of shale well drilling activity and increases in crime, rents, traffic fatalities and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These key “quality of life” issues had been identified in prior work by the Collaborative and in the work of others as having a potential relationship with intensive extractive industry “booms.” To examine this relationship, the Pennsylvania research team divided the counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:22-05:00December 14th, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Healthcare, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
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42% of NYC residents don’t have enough income to cover the basic necessities of a Self-Sufficiency budget, according to a new report.

December 2, 2014. According to the new 2014 edition of the Self-Sufficiency Standard for NYC, released today by the Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement at a forum at the New School, the cost of a basic family budget in New York City has increased by 45% since 2000 while the median earnings of adults increased by only 17% over the past 14 years. The report, Overlooked and Undercounted: the Struggle to Make Ends Meet in New York City, is an update and extension [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:22-05:00December 2nd, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
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Hundreds of thousands of low-income families would benefit from a New York minimum wage increase

July 17, 2014. David Neumark’s piece in the July 6 Wall Street Journal (“Who Really Gets the Minimum Wage?”) argues that because some low-wage earners are in high-income families, increasing the minimum wage isn’t a very effective way to reduce poverty. In particular, he cites research to the effect that “if we were to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 nationally, 18% of the benefits of the higher wages (holding employment fixed) would go to poor families [but] 29% would go to families with incomes [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:24-05:00July 17th, 2014|Blog, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy|
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Parrott Presentation: Confronting New York City’s Retirement Crisis

June 17, 2014. The New York City Central Labor Council and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School sponsored a June 17 conference, Confronting New York City’s Retirement Crisis. FPI’s James Parrott made one of the opening presentations at the conference. Other speakers included State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, and New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, as well as leading labor union officials, union pension experts, and academic and finance sector experts. National retirement security [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:24-05:00June 17th, 2014|Blog, Social Policy|
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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, [...]

2025-04-04T14:27:27-04:00June 5th, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Must Read, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy|
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NYS Can Help Low-income Working Families with Children by Increasing its Earned Income Tax Credit

May 20, 2014. It comes as no surprise to working families that New York State’s tax system is fundamentally unfair. Low- and middle-income workers pay, on average, a much higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the highest income earners. According to analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the 40% of New York’s tax filers with the lowest incomes pay at least 10% of their income in state and local taxes and the 20% of households [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:25-05:00May 20th, 2014|Social Policy, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy|
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Testimony at the New York City Council Education and Women’s Issues Committees

February 11, 2014. James Parrott testified before the New York City Council Education and Women's Issues Committees on Feb. 11, 2014, on the subject of Mayor deBlasio's Universal Pre-Kindergarten and After-School Proposals. Parrott supported the notion that there should be a dedicated funding stream to pay for these proposals financed by an increase in the top rate on the City's personal income tax. He examined the proposed increase in historical perspective, reviewed the issue of migration in response to local and state tax differentials, and [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:27-05:00February 11th, 2014|Economic Trends & Policy, Education, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy, Tax & Budget, Tax Policy, Testimony|
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Testimony at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2014-2015 Executive Budget Proposal – Human Services

February 4, 2014. Submitted by Carolyn Boldiston, FPI’s Senior Fiscal Policy Analyst. Testimony includes: recommendations for the 2014-2015 state fiscal year; review of actual and proposed reductions in human services spending; use of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding in the 2014-2015 Executive Budget; and, the impact of decline in the purchasing power of the monthly cash assistance grant.

2024-12-18T12:27:27-05:00February 4th, 2014|Social Policy, State Budget, Tax & Budget, Testimony|
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Almost 3.2 million New Yorkers to See a Cut in Food Assistance Beginning Today

November 1, 2013. Beginning today, almost 3.2 million people in New York will see their food assistance benefits cut as the federal government ends a temporary boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The New Yorkers affected by this cut—in what used to be known as the “food stamps” program—include more than 1.2 million children and over 1 million elderly and disabled individuals. Overall, New York residents will receive $332 million less in SNAP benefits in the 11 months from November 1, 2013 through [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:28-05:00November 1st, 2013|Blog, Social Policy, Tax & Budget|
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The Taxpayer Costs of Low-Wage Fast Food Jobs in New York State

October 16, 2013. Fast food jobs are by far the biggest source of job growth in New York State and New York City in this recovery and over the past decade. But, with a median hourly pay of only $8.90 an hour in NYC, this growth in fast food jobs is one of the reasons that poverty has risen sharply during the recovery. NYC has a record number of working poor—one out of every 10 workers in NYC works, but can’t earn enough to lift [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:28-05:00October 16th, 2013|Blog, Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Labor Market & Workforce, Social Policy|
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New York is Second to Massachusetts in Reducing its Uninsurance Rate Over the Past Decade

September 19, 2013. The percentage of New Yorkers without health insurance dropped for the second year in a row from 12.2 percent in 2011 to 11.3 percent in 2012 (+/- .5 percent) according to estimates released by the Census Bureau two days ago. Overall, the number of people without health care coverage across the state dropped to approximately 2.2 million people in 2012. Moreover, New York was one of only four states that had a statistically significant reduction in the share of people not covered [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:28-05:00September 19th, 2013|Blog, Healthcare, Social Policy|
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Investing in education will build a stronger New York economy

August 22, 2013. The best way for New York State to grow its economy is by expanding investment in a well-educated workforce, according to a new study published by Economic Policy Institute for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN). EARN is a network of 61 state and local economic think tanks and 25 national partners founded by the Economic Policy Institute and several other state and national groups, including the Fiscal Policy Institute. In A Well Educated Workforce is Key to State Prosperity, Noah [...]

2024-12-18T12:27:29-05:00August 22nd, 2013|Economic Outlook, Economic Trends & Policy, Press Releases, Reports, Briefs and Presentations, Social Policy, Tax & Budget|
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