It's Labor Day, and as working New Yorkers celebrate their contributions to society, it's a fitting time to take stock of state policy and its impact on workers and their families. As a state, we made progress this year, including long overdue increases in the minimum wage and unemployment benefits, But New York is still not working hard enough for hardworking New Yorkers.
Sadly, New York continues to lead the country in income inequality. Aside from the basic lack of fairness inherent in a society of haves and have-nots, it's just not a sustainable economic condition.
Too many New Yorkers are struggling; we see it every day. Jobs are disappearing upstate — like in Rochester, where Bausch + Lomb, a Central New York institution, is sending 400 workers to the unemployment line.
Those who still have jobs have seen their wages stagnate. Median family income, adjusted for inflation, declined each year from 2008 to 2011 — nearly 6 percent throughout the state.
The old approach to economic development clearly isn't working. Like a high school senior without a prom date, we've acted in desperation, just trying to get any potential suitor to look our way. But if the jobs pay poverty wages, last for only a heartbeat, or don't materialize, have we really succeeded?
We need to start looking at things from the perspective of the workers who call our state home, not the corporations who call New York their tax break layover. We should be strengthening and developing new ladders to the middle class, as well as restoring some semblance of basic fairness in our society.
The first key is changing our focus from short-term jobs to long-term careers. Public dollars must be used strategically. As a state, we can't subsidize jobs that may or may not be here in 10 years; we need to develop industries that create opportunities from one generation to the next. Casinos are one example of that long-term focus. They represent the development of an industry, not simply a transaction. Unfortunately, it's the exception rather than the rule.
The second key is ensuring that there are basic standards when tax dollars are invested, so that we create good, family-sustaining jobs. Public dollars should come with requirements such as prevailing wage and project labor agreements in construction as well as standards for the permanent jobs created. Remember, no one is forcing private companies to take public money. If businesses choose to do so, it is not only appropriate, but incumbent upon state and local governments to expect more than the bare minimum in return.
Finally, there must be accountability. In 2011, 46 percent of projects receiving support from industrial development agencies, which grant tax exemptions and other incentives to businesses, lost jobs, failed to create a single job, or never made any job promises. We can't afford a government that subsidizes businesses that fail to create — or even promise to create — jobs.
How is it even possible to receive tax breaks without committing to create jobs?
That's not economic development; that's corporate welfare. We must have the ability to recoup some of our investment when businesses don't deliver, and redirect that funding to where it may actually create meaningful economic activity.
New Yorkers don't want a handout; we just want a fair chance to succeed. We should expect the same spirit and commitment from the businesses we assist.
This Labor Day, we recognize that working men women can no longer afford to have the terms of public policy debate dictated to us because the result of that dynamic has been disastrous. If we want to live in an enlightened and progressive society that we can all be proud of, then we all need to succeed together.