Madmallard
.223 Rem
Upstate is back, Gov. Andrew Cuomo claims at every opportunity, showering his economic-development czar Howard Zemsky with praise for nothing less than a miracle. Unfortunately, as the governor prepares to run for re-election, his upstate revival has stalled and the worst performance is in the place he has spent the most money—Buffalo.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has crunched the numbers in a report issued earlier this month. Since early in 2016, the report said, upstate job growth has been a "paltry 0.3%," which is half the rate of the previous four years. Buffalo, where the governor has poured $1 billion into the economy, saw virtually no increase. Rochester, the second-largest upstate economy, has lost jobs over the past year and a half.
In fact, the so-called Buffalo Billion is in part to blame for the problem. The area saw a surge in construction as the infusion of money financed building of the Solar City factory and Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Those jobs have now disappeared, an important reminder that too much of public economic-development spending creates temporary construction jobs and should be treated differently from spending that creates permanent jobs.
Rochester is suffering because its manufacturing base continues to atrophy and online shopping is cutting into retail. The business services sector is also in decline as the area’s corporate base shrinks.
The upstate economy has been a problem for decades. In most economic cycles, upstate has failed to regain its prerecession employment peak. The recovery that began in February 2010 was slow—less than half the rate of the nation—but did reach the prerecession level by 2015. Shortly thereafter, it faltered.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20171017/BLOGS01/171019893
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has crunched the numbers in a report issued earlier this month. Since early in 2016, the report said, upstate job growth has been a "paltry 0.3%," which is half the rate of the previous four years. Buffalo, where the governor has poured $1 billion into the economy, saw virtually no increase. Rochester, the second-largest upstate economy, has lost jobs over the past year and a half.
In fact, the so-called Buffalo Billion is in part to blame for the problem. The area saw a surge in construction as the infusion of money financed building of the Solar City factory and Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Those jobs have now disappeared, an important reminder that too much of public economic-development spending creates temporary construction jobs and should be treated differently from spending that creates permanent jobs.
Rochester is suffering because its manufacturing base continues to atrophy and online shopping is cutting into retail. The business services sector is also in decline as the area’s corporate base shrinks.
The upstate economy has been a problem for decades. In most economic cycles, upstate has failed to regain its prerecession employment peak. The recovery that began in February 2010 was slow—less than half the rate of the nation—but did reach the prerecession level by 2015. Shortly thereafter, it faltered.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20171017/BLOGS01/171019893
