New York is losing the battle to lure outsourced jobs now slowly trickling back to the US — and more competitive regions are poaching Gotham’s jobs.
The tax breaks and incentives to stem New York’s slide? Too little, too late, critics say.
“If you’re a businessman thinking of bringing jobs back to one of the 50 states, then New York is at the bottom of that list,” said Neal Asbury, a manufacturer who grew up in Morristown, NJ, and has studied New York’s high cost base.
“You have a governor telling the world he doesn’t want conservatives in his state because you have to think like him — and you have a New York City mayor obsessed with raising taxes to pay for more entitlements. That is not sending a great message,” added Asbury.
As some of the original cost advantages overseas erode, Asbury, 57, CEO of The Legacy Companies, has already brought back from China up to 40 of his company’s 300 jobs worldwide to various regions in the US. New York is not one of them. And that’s despite local tax credits, corporate tax reform and new budget breaks.
“They’re speaking out of both sides of their mouths, because I’ve seen television commercials down in Florida that New York is open for business,” said Asbury. “New York has shot itself in the foot.”
Asbury is not alone. “Businesses are moving their operations back to other states in the US from overseas, and New York can’t compete,” said Art Shectman, president and founder of Elephant Ventures, a 25-person Midtown Manhattan digital-strategy and consulting firm that outsources as much as 20 to 30 percent of its work to save on costs. “You pay $150,000 a year here for someone who will do the same job in the Midwest for $90,000,” Shectman said.
The trend has executives, at the forefront of New York’s efforts to attract high-paying jobs, in full panic mode.
“Since the financial crisis of 2008, the city has had a net loss of 30,000 financial services jobs alone,” said Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of the nonprofit Partnership for New York City. “And we’re concerned that trend could accelerate.”