More than 68% of New York state residents surveyed said the cost of living is the most critical issue facing their household. And while clean energy promises substantial job creation, New York state is falling short of its renewable energy goals - and job opportunities in New York are distributed inequitably, as women and Black workers remain underrepresented in the industry.
Those are among the findings related to care workers, domestic workers, people in the justice system and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the ILR School's New York at Work 2024-25 Report, published Aug. 18.
"Improving access to employment opportunities and working conditions through policy and practice requires a clear understanding of the current labor and employment landscape. The New York at Work Report is designed to inform policymakers and the broader public through useful, accessible and timely research that guides action," said Ariel Avgar, Ph.D. '08, director of ILR's Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW).
Now in its fifth year, the New York at Work report draws on ILR expertise, research-based data and policy analysis on a broad range of key issues affecting the state's workers, unions, communities and employers. It is intended to serve as an informative, accessible and relevant resource for policymakers and the public, said Avgar, ILR's David M. Cohen '73 Professor of Labor Relations.
Much of the research in the report is directly related to the Empire State Poll, which CAROW conducts annually to survey New York state residents about how work impacts their lives.
Key findings among the various briefs include:
- After controlling for factors like education, experience, occupation, and industry, the adjusted average hourly wage for women in Erie County, New York, is $2.74 less than that of men.
- Nearly 27% of Empire State poll respondents who reported caregiving responsibilities indicated that such responsibilities make it difficult to maintain a job.
- Despite an amended New York state labor law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on the use of cannabis outside the workplace and outside work hours, 11% of workers stated they had been tested for cannabis by their employer in the past year.
- The recently passed Clean Slate Act (CPL 160.57) offers record sealing for certain offenses but does little to overcome barriers stemming from legally imposed occupational licensing restrictions in New York state, resulting in the disqualification from hundreds of thousands of jobs for justice-impacted individuals.
- Care workers who responded to the Empire State poll were likelier to report low pay, disrespect, understaffing, harassment, discrimination or feeling unsafe at work as sources of stress and/or burnout.
- An in-depth evaluation of the impact of the We Rise Nanny Training, a peer education program in New York incubated by Cornell's Worker Institute, found that participants were empowered to increase their wages, improve working conditions and secure written contracts and overtime pay.
- An overview of a pilot Regenerative Organizing program that addressed stress and trauma for care workers in the New York metropolitan area found that participants better understood the effects of stress and began to see personal healing as an important foundation to becoming more effective in leadership, organizing and supporting others.
- Common barriers to competitive integrated employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities include system design, transportation and attitudes of families and support staff.
"Eighty years ago this fall, the Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations was founded to address the great workplace conflicts of that era and promote better labor-management relations," said Alexander Colvin, Ph.D. '99, the Kenneth F. Kahn '69 Dean and Martin F. Scheinman '76, M.S. '76, Professor of Conflict Resolution. "The annual New York at Work report embodies the school's land-grant mission by continuing our commitment to enhancing labor policy and practice in New York state.
"We are proud to continue improving labor relations and enhancing the lives of New York's working people through our research, teaching and outreach."
Research and policy briefs in the most recent New York at Work report were contributed by ILR's Buffalo Co-Lab; the Center for Applied Research on Work; the Climate Jobs Institute; the Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative; the Institute for Compensation Studies; the Labor and Employment Law Program; the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution; the Worker Institute; and the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability.
To view previous New York at Work reports, visit: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu.
Julie Greco is the director of communications for the ILR School.
