Archive for September, 2007

New Report on the State of Working New York: Modest Improvements in Wages, but Troubling Long-Term Trends

Upstate Regions Gain Jobs, Led by Buffalo Metro Area

Four years into an economic expansion, New Yorkers finally got a slight raise last year, according to this year’s edition of The State of Working New York, released today by the Fiscal Policy Institute. Real median wages were up for the first time in four years, increasing by 1.7 percent in 2006.

One important reason earnings increased, the report concludes, is New York State’s new minimum wage of $7.15 per hour. The minimum wage was raised in three stages since January of 2005. “Opponents of the increase predicted that it would cause widespread job loss,” says James Parrott, chief economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute. “But today, we see the best of both worlds: job growth together with improvement in wages.”