Even as New York Gov. David M. Paterson approved a bankruptcy filing by a major wagering organization in New York, economists were not staking any bets on a winning economy in the Empire State.
New York placed among the bottom half-dozen states nationally for its economic performance leading up to this year, even as confidence among New York consumers reached its highest level in 20 months according to the Siena Research Institute, which conducts a monthly poll of consumer confidence.
The San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute ranked states by several factors, including growth in real estate product, wealth and poverty statistics, employment data, migration and entrepreneurship. Overall, PRI ranked New York 45th nationally for its economic profile.
Several other Northeast states fared similarly poorly on the ranking, including Massachusetts, which tied New York for 45th, New Jersey at 41st and Connecticut at 39th. New Hampshire led all Northeast states by finishing 20th nationally.
The data does not include information from 2009 during the worst of the recession, and that fact is reflected in the top ranked state being Nevada, which has been decimated this year by the collapse of the housing and tourism industries that drive its economy.
The bottommost state, however, has struggled more than any other during the recession ”“ Michigan.
The PRI study did not break out information on a county level, making generalizations for large states like New York and California difficult due to the diversity of economic profiles in various parts of the state.
New York fared best on income-related measures at 22nd nationally, but its overall score was pulled down by low scores on employment data and net migration.
While New York state”™s unemployment rate held steady between June and July at 8.6 percent, the jobless rate in metropolitan New York City increased from 8.8 percent to 9.1 percent. Farther north, the labor market area encompassing Poughkeepsie, Middletown and Newburgh saw unemployment drop from 8.4 percent in June to 8.2 percent in July.
