Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

Today’s Democrat and Chronicle affirmed why New York business leaders should be concerned about numbers in 2008.

In an article titled … New York's Numbers are Numbing … Jay Gallagher quotes stats from the Public Policy Institute:

1. State-local tax burden: $5,260 average per person, highest in the country, and 53 percent above the national average.

2. Private-sector employment growth, 1996-2006: 9 percent, 40th out of the 50 states. The national average was 14 percent.

3. Manufacturing jobs: Dropped almost 29 percent between 1996 and 2006, a bigger drop than all states except North Carolina and Rhode Island.

4.  Cost of doing business (measures wages, taxes, electricity and real estate): Second to Hawaii and 30.7 percent above the national average.

5.  Average price of electricity, 2007: 14.54 cents per kilowatt hour, fourth-highest and 66 percent above the national average of 8.77 cents.

6. Renewable energy, 2007: Almost 22 percent of the total, among the highest of any state, due mostly to major hydroelectric plants near Niagara Falls and along the St. Lawrence River. The state is less dependent on coal, environmentally the dirtiest fuel, than almost any other state.

7. Cost of auto insurance, 2003: $1,161 on average, second behind New Jersey ($1,188) and 45 percent above the national average of $821.

8. Spending by the state and local governments per person: $11,375, second to Alaska and 47 percent above the national average of $7,728.

9.  High-school graduation rate, 2006: 63.1 percent, 43rd among the states. The national average was 70 percent.

10. Per-pupil spending on public schools, 2005: $14,119, tops in the country and 62 percent above the national average. In other words we pay more and get less than most areas.

11. Classroom teacher salaries, 2006: $57,354 average, sixth behind Connecticut, California, New Jersey, Illinois and Michigan and 17 percent above the national average.

12.  Number of state and local government workers per 1,000 people in 2003: 62, ninth-highest in the country. Average wages of government workers in 2003: $51,445, second to California. The national average is $40,717.

13. State and local-government debt per capita: $11,377, third-highest of any state and 71 percent above the national average of $6,659.

14. Gasoline taxes: 43.9 cents per gallon, third-highest and 55 percent above the national average of 28.4 cents.

15. Medicaid spending per capita: $2,316, highest in the country and 128 percent above the national average. But the expense was flat this year.

Would you agree this list of 15 suggests bloated bureaucracy and basic business dysfunction?

These 15 numeric reasons why we need to watch our wallets in the coming year.  New York is like a vacuum inserted deep into our pockets. Are there any answers these figures fail to show? What do you think?