Economy Batters New York’s Jobs, Wages

Employment Woes: New York state perennially struggles with high taxes and migration of businesses to other states, especially from upstate. Being situated in the buckle of the Rust Belt exacerbates high unemployment and stymied job growth, as manufacturers flee to more sunny climes. Apparently, hope is not on the horizon. A private research group paints a dismal economic forecast for the Empire State, its employers and workers.  According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, 25 counties have posted year-over-year unemployment increases of 20 percent or more in 2008. It says inflation in New York is approaching the highest level in 17 years. Employees, meanwhile, are experiencing a dip in the value of their real earnings. The real median hourly wage for New Yorkers tumbled 1.5 percent during the first half of 2008, after remaining unchanged 2003 to 2007. At midyear, about half a million New York residents were officially without employment. New unemployment claims have risen by nearly 20 percent on a year-over-year basis, straining New York’s “seriously underfinanced” trust fund, according to the August 28 report.