GOOD JOBS FOR ALL WHO NEED THEM
Empire State Economic Security Campaign

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The Challenge
Lack of Good Jobs
In New York State, there are over half a million unemployed adults 16 years and older, 22.9 million adults living at or below the poverty level, and nearly a quarter of a million (218,620) adults on welfare.  Jobs are hard to find and good stable jobs paying family-sustaining wages and benefits are sparse.  Although the state's economy has been in recovery for four years since employment bottomed-out nationally in mid-2003, New York  has gained back only 300,000 jobs, only slightly more than the the 273,000 jobs that it lost during the recession (March through November 2001) and the ensuing "job loss recovery" (November 2001 through May 2003).  Since the "job growth recovery" began in mid-2003, New York's 3.5 percent job growth trails the nation's 6.3 percent growth. ¹

Loss of Jobs Paying Family-Sustaining Wages and Benefits
While the overall New York economy has grown at a modest rate over the past four years, the tenuous job growth recovery has been characterized by such weak wage growth that most of New York’s working families have been left treading water.  In New York, economic output per worker increased by 11.4 percent from 2000 to 2006, while average wages increased by only 1.1 percent and real wages for workers in the bottom half of the wage distribution are in fact no higher than in 2001.  Across the state, the net loss of thousands of good paying jobs has meant that the “hollowing out” of the middle of the income distribution continued at a rapid pace.   Those fortunate enough to find work after being laid off often find themselves earning less and receiving fewer benefits like health insurance and retirement plans in their new jobs. Industries in which the share of total jobs has declined, on average, provided health insurance to 68 percent of their worker force, compared to the 55 percent of workers insured in industries in which the share of jobs increased in 2004.²

New York City has not been spared this trend of declining annual earnings, hours worked, and hourly wage rates in the face of rising poverty.  From the peak of the economic expansion of the 1990s (2000/1999) to the years 2004/2003, annual earnings and hourly wage rates dropped dramatically for workers in the bottom third of the pay scale. From 2000/1999 to 2004/2003, annual earnings fell by 5.2 percent and hourly wages declined by 6.5 percent for workers the lowest earnings tier.³ 

Decline in Manufacturing Jobs and Outsourcing of Job
Although there has been a decline in manufacturing jobs nationwide, the decline in upstate New York areas has been much steeper than for the U.S. as a whole. New York has lost 25 percent of its factory jobs since 2000.⁴  Outsourcing of U.S. jobs to other countries is a clear contributor to this problem.  830,000 U.S. service jobs are expected to move abroad by the end of 2005. By 2015, the total number of U.S. jobs expected to be moved out of the U.S. through "outsourcing" is expected to reach more than 3.3 million.⁵

Real Wages Outpaced by Rising Cost of Living.
Real wages — your paycheck minus inflation — are falling for most workers.  From 2002 – 2006, real median hourly wages in New York fell from $16.00 per hour to $15.678 per hour.⁶  Not only has the price of gasoline gone through the roof, but heating oil and gas, too. Health care costs have made a double-digit increase for several years. Property taxes are up significantly in most places, as are rents.  As a result, many working families with low or moderate wages can't really afford to live on what their jobs pay.  In New York, in 2005 one in ten working families had incomes below the official poverty thresholds and 30.5 percent had incomes below twice the poverty thresholds. In 2005, almost half a million New York lived in working poor families.⁷ 

Welfare Recipients and Low-Wage Work
Thousands of individuals have entered the low-wage, low-skill job market under welfare reform. Almost all welfare leavers work at or below poverty wages (except those who obtained a college education). Once in a low-wage job, there is little opportunity to climb the company ladder since investment in improving the job skills or education of welfare participants after they find work is rare. Two major labor market challenges facing hard-to-employ welfare recipients warrant special attention:

Lack of Oversight of the State’s Multi-Billion Dollars Economic Development Program
State and local governments give away billions of dollars annually to companies in the name of economic development. This huge investment in tax credits, subsides, exemptions and payments is supposed to create jobs but government oversight has been weak. A report by the Syracuse Post Standard found that half of the companies receiving economic development funds from New York State fell short of their “job goals.” Almost a quarter actually cut jobs. But the state often fails to penalize the companies that fail to meet their job requirements, even when many millions of dollars are involved.

What The Public Thinks
Working families are deeply concerned about making ends meet, obtaining affordable health insurance for themselves and their families and avoiding going deeper into debt and bankruptcy.  In national polling, when asked "what is the most important financial problem facing your family today," Americans ranked "lack of money/low wages" number 2 – second only to "health care costs." ⁸

ES2 Policy 
New York should commit to a rigorous job creation program that extends credits only to businesses that create family-sustaining jobs around the state and that are targeted for low and moderate income residents, especially those leaving welfare. 

New York should directly link job training and job placement for low-income and unemployed people to transportation and housing capital construction programs.  This could include a set percentage goal of hours worked on the construction project going to local residents and establishing pre-apprenticeship and union apprenticeship programs connected to the new jobs.  This would provide jobs in the building trades industry, along with vocational training, for the half million unemployed residents, 22.9 million adults living at or below the poverty level, and the 218,620 adults on welfare in New York State.  We would revitalize the economy of low-income communities and get decent jobs for more people from those communities, including women and people of color.