Things do not look so good for Long Island's economic forecast. Newsday had two disturbing headlines:
LI job market losses biggest since 1991. (Newsday.com, 7/16/09)
The figure is now 7.5%. Long Island lost over 40,000 private sector jobs in the last 12 months.
LI business bankruptcy filings surpass national rate. (Newsday.com, 7/16/09)
The national rate is 59%.
And the Long Island Business News had another:
Foreclosures rise 15% in first half of 2009. (libn.com, 7/16/09)
In addition, there was the big stink about OSI Pharmaceuticals, a native Long Island company and anointed cornerstone of Long Island's much anticipated biotech corridor, moving to Westchester County because they got a better deal there. It must be noted that Westchester has the same high taxes as Long Island so taxation was not a motivating factor.
All of these indicators do not bode well for Long Island job seekers. Long Island has much to consider if it is going to get its economic act together and create jobs. It has to shed the nimbyism and thoroughly assess its ageing infrastructure, its ageing population, runaway taxation, cronyism, shrinking business environment and all around high cost of living. It is a tall order and so far not much is getting done at all since there is no regional planning body or regional thinking whatsoever. Here, it is district by district, town by town, county by county, this type of localism is restricting the region's ability to come up with creative solutions that will benefit the region as a whole.
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