New York SBDC Research Network

The 37th edition of the New York State Statistical Yearbook for 2013, published by The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government of the University of Albany, is now available in print and online. Similar to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, this Yearbook is organized into chapters focusing on specific topics or governmental functions. Where possible, the tables provide data for each of the state’s sixty-two counties, including the five boroughs of New York City. Several interesting statistics are captured in this edition with particular relevance to the small business landscape in New York State:  New York State ranks second in New Economy scores for High Wage Traded Services. Also in the New Economy category, New York is ranked twelve for Foreign Direct Investment and sixteenth for Job Churning. (To view the full data, navigate to Table B-5 ) Direct expenditures by New York State and local governments totaled $15,173 per capita, 51 percent above the nationa

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ---- a.k.a. 'Obamacare' ---- remains unpopular with many Americans. Richard Kirsch, a Rockefeller Institute fellow and author of the newly released book Fighting For Our Health, writes in a new commentary that there are several reasons for Americans' dislike of the law, but those reasons have little to do with the law's value. Chief among them is the fact that key provisions don't go into effect for another two years, leaving many people with the idea that the act has achieved little. The challenge for the law's supporters, Kirsch says, is to convince people that help really is on the way. To read Kirsch's commentary, visit the Institute's Web site .

Products made in New York generate comparatively high levels of wages and spinoff economic activity, according to a new report prepared by the Rockefeller Institute for the Manufacturing Research Institute of New York State. Even after recent losses, the state ranks sixth in the nation in total manufacturing jobs, according to the report. Including other jobs that depend on manufacturing, the sector supports one in three payroll dollars in much of upstate New York. Yet New York City is the largest single center of manufacturing in the state, with more than 81,000 jobs and $4.2 billion of payroll in 2009. In economic terms, the wealth created and added to the economy through manufacturing processes represented 52.7 percent of the total value of products shipped from New York in 2008, compared to 41.5 percent nationally. The state’s largest manufacturing sector, computers and electronic products, employs nearly 65,000 New Yorkers, with total payroll of $5.5 billion and average salaries