Economic growth among upstate cities is projected to lag behind most of the country through 2020, a new study from the U.S. Conference of Mayors shows.
Those cities also trail much of the rest of the country in terms of foreign investments in their local economies, a separate study found.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seeking to change that with what is called the Global NY initiative, an effort to lure more foreign investment upstate, encourage foreign-owned businesses already here to expand and increase exports from local small- and medium-sized companies.
The governor’s regional economic development councils are being asked to develop strategies to “go global” during the current round of funding competition.
According to the Brookings Institution study released late last week, Albany ranked 61st out of the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas in the share of total private employment in foreign-owned establishments and 62nd in the number of jobs in those establishments.
Although both rankings were significant improvements from its 75th- and 87th-place finishes 20 years ago, the city nevertheless remained below the median.
Only Buffalo was solidly in the upper half of the rankings, at 20th in share of employment and 37th in number of jobs.
A more troubling study, commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Council on Metro Economies and the New American City, projected that upstate cities would lag behind the rest of the nation in economic growth through 2020.
The study, by IHS Global Insight, ranked Albany 338th out of 363 metropolitan areas, while Rochester ranked 343rd, Syracuse 348th, Ithaca 352nd, Glens Falls 353rd, Buffalo 354th, Elmira, 355th, Kingston 356th, Utica 362nd and Binghamton 363rd, or last.
E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, pointed out in the blog NY Torch that even such Snow Belt states as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana had metros that finished in the top 100.
The Brookings study, meanwhile, was based on data from 2011 and missed the more recent job creation at GlobalFoundries in Saratoga County, which employs 2,500, and continuing expansion at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany, where 3,000 people work and numerous overseas companies have a research presence.
Still, as McMahon pointed out, “the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area has a projected growth rate of 1.8 percent, ranking at 338, despite a massive public investment in high-tech manufacturing and research.”
The IHS Global study projected the strongest economic growth through 2020 in the South and West, in such places as Texas, Utah, Florida and North Carolina.
It ranked Midland, Texas, first, with a projected average annual growth rate in its economy of 5.8 percent, compared to just 1.8 percent for the Albany metro area.
Austin, Texas, ranked sixth with a projected annual growth rate of 4.4 percent, followed by Raleigh, N.C., at 4.3 percent.
Cuomo’s Global NY initiative will include a summit on world trade and investment this autumn, most likely in New York City, a spokesman said.
The effort will seek to increase awareness of such programs as Start-Up NY that have sought to cut taxes, improve the state’s business climate and encourage existing companies to pursue international markets.
© 2014 Albany Times Union
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