A Finger Lakes meal-kit company closed its doors suddenly this month after New York state government had sunk upwards of $14 million into the operation. Read More
Tag: Economic Development
Hochul should “ring out the old” by appointing a subsidy board that will shelve the prevailing-wage expansion Read More
Edmund McMahon, found and research director, the Empire Center, “At the end of the day, you’re still talking about a site that’s remote, to put it kindly. Right now, for all the marketing spin, this still feels more like a nano-fantasy." Read More
As the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin reported last week, new SMFP cash “was noticeably missing from the budget bills adopted on April 1, raising the suspicion that a fresh infusion” will be part of the Big Ugly legislation rushed through in the end-of-session crush. Read More
Opponents of a higher minimum wage, like the Empire Center for Public Policy, have argued that a gradual minimum wage increase would increase employer overhead and cost the state up to 200,000 jobs — and at least 11,000 in the Capital Region alone. Read More
Today's jobs report from the state Labor Department carried the usual "Jobs at All-Time High" headline (when the "high" disappears, think recession). Also as usual, the April numbers showed a wide regional variation in private job creation rates around the state—and New York as a whole continues to trail employment growth nationally. Read More
But an Empire Center for Public Policy study estimated that the state's prevailing wage mandate would drive up the cost of publicly funded projects by at least 20 percent in the Buffalo area, compared to median private-sector construction wages. The study estimated the mandate led to increases of anywhere from 13 percent to 25 percent in the state, depending on the region. Read More
We also reached out to the experts to see what they have to say. In our latest “Ask the Experts” feature, we reached out to Donnie Charleston, diirector of state and local fiscal engagement at the Urban Institute; David Friedfel, director of state studies at the Citizens Budget Commission; Bruce Gyory, a senior advisor at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and a Democratic political consultant; Jim Heaney, the founder, editor and executive director of Investigative Post; and E.J. McMahon, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy. Read More