August 1, 2009

• Portfolio.com: NYC Datapoint of the Day: City’s middle-class exodus seen accelerating

  "New study cites NYC’s soaring cost of living and flattened wages for “outmigration” of moderate-income families.

  The Center for an Urban Future has released a startling report on the
  fate of New York's middle classes -- even as the population of the city
  continues to grow, its middle class is shrinking, and when it comes to
  domestic migration, there are clearly many more New Yorkers leaving
  town than there are people from other US towns moving in.

  More residents left the five boroughs for other locales in each of the
  years between 2002 and 2006 than in 1993, when the city was in far
  worse shape. In 2006, the city had a net loss of 151,441 residents
  through domestic out-migration, compared to a decline of 141,047 in
  1993. Overall, in 2006 the city had a higher net domestic out-migration
  rate per 1,000 residents (-18.7) than struggling upstate communities
  such as Ithaca (-8.0), Buffalo/Niagara Falls (-7.6), Rochester (-5.8)
  and Syracuse (-5.1).

  A huge part of this is the sheer expense of living in New York -- not
  just housing costs, although that's a lot of it, but everything else,
  too, from car insurance to the price of milk. But it's also that there
  simply aren't middle-class job opportunities in New York any more:

  Of the 10 occupations that are expected to have the largest number
  of annual job openings in the city through 2014, only two offer median
  wages greater than $28,000 a year. Taking a wider view, 16 of the 40
  occupations projected to have the largest number of annual job openings
  over the same period pay median wages below $30,000 a year, while
  another six pay between $30,000 and $40,000.

  This is a BIG problem, because a "luxury city", filled essentially with
  the rich and those who service them, with very little in the middle,
  can never be a vibrant and exciting place. College graduates like
  myself should want to come to New York, not because they think they can
  make millions here, but just because it's a great place to live. And
  that seems to be happening less and less, as New York becomes
  increasingly unaffordable.

  The authors write, quite rightly:

  No city has had a greater history as a middle class incubator than
  New York. As the legendary urbanist and long time New York resident
  Jane Jacobs once noted: "A metropolitan economy, if working well, is
  constantly transforming many poor people into middle class people, many
  illiterates into skilled people, many greenhorns into competent
  citizens... Cities don't lure the middle class. They create it."

  That's not happening any more, not in New York. And that's very worrying.

  _______

  Links to relevant articles:

  http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-movers/2009/02/05/new-york-city-datapoint-of-the-day?tid=true

  http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20090205/FREE/902059930/0

  http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/02/its_tough_out_t.php

  http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/02/05/2009-02-05_nyc_so_costly_you_need_to_earn_six_figur.html

  ...and reported on FOX 5 NEWS at 6 tonight. I was a bit disturbed hearing of it

  

  • 12:58 am
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