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 was limited to Eastern New […]

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 policies that  “allowed foreign countries […]

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 the region’s recent weak economic […]

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 example: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/upshot/the-long-term-jobs-killer-is-not-china-its-automation.html. Because of the emphasis […]

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 than the remaining New York […]

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 later this month, but they […]

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 certain sections and you’re going […]

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 of international trade and investment […]

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 who work in manufacturing industries […]