Category: Media Coverage

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in November, the lowest of any year on record dating back to 1976, according to the state's Labor Department, which released its monthly report Thursday. But a new report from the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think-tank based in Albany, attributes the low unemployment numbers in part to an exodus from upstate municipalities and shows the state lagging behind the national average in private sector job growth. Read More

And while the funding helps incentivize development in New York, it does little to address the underlying conditions in the state that hamper job growth, according to Ken Girardin, a policy analyst for the conservative Empire Center for Public Policy. "Subsidies are a great way for politicians to deflect attention from the hard choices needed to improve the business climate," he said, noting that five of the upstate regions had less economic activity last year than in the heart of the Great Recession in 2009. Read More

It’s a Tale of Two Governors, both named Andrew Cuomo. One places at least some limits on spending taxpayer cash; the other burns through it like there’s no tomorrow. Read More

Bill Hammond, the Empire Center's health policy director, appeared on "Max & Murphy" to discuss the proposed state-run single-payer healthcare system. Read More

The right-leaning Empire Center highlighted Anita Laremont, the executive director of the Department of City Planning, as one of four civil servants raking in more than $300,000 this fiscal year thanks to special permission to receive both a public paycheck and public-pension payments. Read More

E.J. McMahon, of the Empire Center for Public Policy, expressed surprise that the project would not have to go before the PACB. “It’s not clear to me why that is or is not the case,” McMahon said, adding there should be clear guidelines in place. Read More

"It's been a blown opportunity basically," McMahon said. He also had concerns about $850 million the state put aside to settle a dispute with the federal government over Medicaid payouts, and suggested using more of the money for core infrastructure costs to hold down growing debt costs. McMahon was particularly troubled by the use of settlement funds to cover annual operating costs, saying, "That's not something they should do under any circumstances. ... The question is whether they will do it again next year." Read More

The research director of the Empire Center for Public Policy, E.J. McMahon, argued state lawmakers should give themselves a stronger voice in how the state decides to award such incentive packages. "They should not be giving (the governor) the discretion to do things like this, but they long have," McMahon said. "This is a giveaway to one of the world's most successful companies." Read More