Banking Law

Wages Are Falling Fastest in New York State

By Peter Orville, New York Consumer Attorney

Six of the 10 cities where wages have fallen the fastest this year are in New York.  Average wages fell dramatically in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, New York, Poughkeepsie and Buffalo - and the decline has been devastating on New York State’s finances, according to a study released last week from the Brookings Institution.

It is unusual, according to the Brookings study, even in the depths of a recession, for wages to fall.  Usually, employers prefer to cut jobs than to cut salaries.  But in New York City, wages fell 1.5% in the first quarter of 2009.  Upstate New York suffered even larger declines in wages.  Rochester wages declined 2.3%, and in Syracuse wages went down 2.2%.

These decreases in wages, combined with large layoffs is having a devastating impact on New York’s tax revenues.  In May, personal income tax revenues were 44% lower than in 2008 according to State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office. 

Full post as published by Debt Law Network on July 01, 2009 (boomark / email).