Manufacturing

  • With a New Governor, New York Faces Economic Challenges - For decades, New York has had substantial disparities in economic performance. Although some parts of the State are doing relatively well, much of it has declining employment, higher levels of poverty, lower household income levels, and fewer adults working than the nation. Over most of the past decade, job growth…
  • New York State Gave $2.6 Million to Build a Food Greenhouse that Pays One Dollar Above the Minimum Wage - In April of this year, Green Empire Farms in the central New York city of Oneida became notorious as the location of more than 170 Covid-19 cases.  The facility is a massive 2.8 million square foot greenhouse where vegetables and fruit, including strawberries and cucumbers, are produced.  County health officials…
  • President Trump’s Economic Renaissance – Fact or Fiction? - During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump claimed that his policies would "Make America Great Again," creating jobs by redressing trade imbalances.  He argued that “We will make America the best place in the world to start a business, hire workers, and open a factory,”   Trump claimed that he would change…
  • New York’s Amazon Debacle – Some Lessons - Amazon's decision to abandon its HQ2 project with 25,000+ future jobs in New York City led to acrimony with opposing politicians and some commentators blaming the company for abandoning its effort.   Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an early project opponent, tried to re-frame her stance, saying, "We do not have to settle…
  • Amazon HQ2 – A Good Deal for New York? - It is not surprising that the decision by Governor Cuomo to give Amazon $1.8 billion in grants and refundable tax credits to come to New York City for half of their second headquarters generated controversy.  Some have questioned the need to subsidize Amazon given New York’s labor pool advantages[1], and…
  • The Finger Lakes – Economic Challenges and Strategic Response: An Assessment - This research is a case study of employment challenges facing the Rochester Metropolitan area and the Finger Lakes region, and an analysis of the region’s strategic economic development plans and reports, developed in response to Governor Cuomo’s challenge to regions seeking economic development funding.  While the report finds reasons why…
  • Reconsidering “Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity” - In a post examining the causes of the decline in manufacturing employment over the past fifty years, I concluded, like other analysts, that although increases in imported manufactured products had caused part of the decrease, most of the drop resulted from productivity increases from automation and process improvements.  See for…
  • Upstate’s Uneven Metropolitan Economies – Implications for Policy Makers - The story of New York’s job market since the 1990's has been a tale of two regions.  The New York City metropolitan area, where two-thirds of the state’s population lives, has seen private sector employment growth (42.4%) that is near the national rate (48.3%). Albany-Schenectady-Troy’s employment growth – 27.5% - is higher…
  • Nexgen in Syracuse – Throwing Good Money after Bad? - Update:  Note that the Syracuse Post Standard carried the following article on January 4th:  http://www.syracuse.com/business-news/index.ssf/2018/01/ny_taxpayers_built_90m_factory_in_dewitt_for_firm_that_walked_away_didnt_create.html The article quotes ESD spokesman Jason Conwell.  "Conwall said the grant will be contingent on the company meeting its job commitments. Details of the grant's terms will not be available until the grant disbursement agreement is executed…
  • Data, Key Punches, Blogging and the Upstate Economy - Fifty years ago, as a research assistant in graduate school at Syracuse University, I did some quantitative research for a professor on the effect of various factors on state policy outputs. Doing the work required me find data in books in the university library and to go to a room in…
  • President Trump to Upstate Residents: Move to Wisconsin - Recently, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Trump suggested that upstate New York residents should leave the state for Wisconsin, where a new Foxconn LCD display panel manufacturing plant will be located, creating at least 3,000 jobs.  President Trump said, "I said, you know, Gary, you go to…
  • Response to Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity - I’d like to thank Kay Wilkie, who serves on the United States Trade Representative’s Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee for offering useful comments concerning my post, “Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity”  Kay points out that “It would be worthwhile to carefully examine and review the aspects…
  • Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity - Note - See an important revision of this post here:  https://policybynumbers.com/reconsidering-lost-manufacturing-jobs-the-effects-of-imports-and-increased-productivity The decline in manufacturing employment in the United States has caused a wrenching economic adjustment, as one path to relatively well paying jobs has narrowed, particularly for workers without college educations.  As the percentage of workers in our society…
  • Economic Stagnation and Electoral Discontent in the Rust Belt - Readers of this blog know that I have been describing changes in employment in New York State and the rust belt associated with the loss of manufacturing employment in the nation.  The loss of 5,500,000 manufacturing jobs since 1970 has slowed employment growth in the region as a whole.  As…
  • The Decline of Manufacturing in New York and the Rust Belt - In a recent post I looked at employment changes in New York’s metropolitan areas and compared their performance with other metropolitan areas in the rust belt.  I found that change was inconsistent between cities in each state, and over different time periods.  I argued that industry mix probably was the…
  • Syracuse’s Empty Film Hub - The New York Times carried an article, “Cuomo’s $15 Million High-Tech Film Studio? It’s a Flop,”[1] on August 22nd.  The article points out that the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries, owned by the Fort Schuyler Management Corporation (FSMC), a non-profit subsidiary of the SUNY Research Foundation, is…
  • Rex Smith’s Albany Times-Union Column, “Development Dollars Draw on Politics” - The Albany Times-Union carried a column by its Editor, Rex Smith on August 6th, concerning decision making by NewYork's Regional Economic Development Councils, questioning whether their efforts are directed at areas of the state with greatest need.  His column may be found here.  The column draws on research that I recently…
  • New York’s Ineffective Business Tax Incentives - In 1987, New York State enacted legislation to create an Economic Development Zones Program, modelled after the enterprise zones concept, championed by Congressman Jack Kemp.  Proponents argued that by reducing taxes in specific geographic areas with high concentrations of poverty and unemployment, existing firms would be more likely to create…
  • SolarCity: The Risk Embedded in Buffalo’s Billion - .pdf version here: Note: This post is also published on The Empire Center website. The decision by the nation’s largest solar panel provider to locate a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Buffalo, and to create other jobs in Western New York, could be a needed shot in the arm for a…