ALBANYNearly 49 percent of households in New York State have computers, slightly fewer than the national average. Energy consumption per person in the Empire State is lower than that in any other state except Hawaii. New York ranks second among the states, behind Massachusetts, in the number of science and engineering graduate students compared to total population.
Those are among the statistics in the 2001 edition of Just The Facts: Key Economic and Social Indicators for New York State, released today by The Public Policy Institute. The Institute is the research affiliate of The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
Just The Facts: 2001 Edition includes 48 tables comparing New York to all the other states, as well as tables that show New York's job growth and other selected indicators compared to the other 9 largest states. Examples include:
- Private-sector job growth statewide was 10th-best nationally, while growth in Upstate New York would have ranked 22nd among all the states, from September 1999 to September 2000.
- Manufacturing employment both statewide and upstate declined at a rate greater than the national average during the same period.
- The Empire State is a national leader in creation of new companies, total value of product exports and patents issued. It also remains No. 1 as a commercial banking center, although No. 2 North Carolina has been gaining.
- State and local taxes in New York remain the highest in the country, at an estimated $4,905 per person in 2000.
- State corporate income taxes per capita in the state are 41 percent above the national average, while property taxes per capita are nearly 63 percent above average.
- State and local governments in New York spend an average of $8,284 for every resident, while other large industrial states such as New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois each spend less than $6,000 per capita.
- In 1997, the state government and localities spent $453 per resident on interest on debt, more than they spent on highways, on police and fire departments, or on corrections.