TPT May 2008

and transportation business – much of it dependent on Kennedy International and La Guardia, the two big airports of New York City – has prompted a faster rise in wages in Queens than in all but one other county in the country last year. Writing in the New York Times , Patrick McGeehan reported that the latest figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show the average weekly wage in the borough rose by 12.7 per cent to $886 last year. Queens was the only borough of the five comprising the city in which wages rose faster than in Manhattan. In Manhattan, which has the highest average weekly wage of all big counties in America, the average paycheck grew by 6.4 per cent to $1,540, the new figures show ( ‘Rise in wages in Queens is almost highest in US,’ 3 April). In the three other city boroughs, wage growth in the year that ended in June lagged behind the statewide average of 5.9 per cent. Over the same period, the average wage for all American workers rose 4.6 per cent, to $820 a week. Mr McGeehan noted, “The labour bureau data was gathered before turmoil in the financial markets threatened to end the long surge in the city’s economy. Those troubles boiled over last summer and have led to huge losses and layoffs at the biggest banks on Wall Street.” The financial industry is of course the main driver of New York’s economy, largely because of the high pay of its employees. But now, according to economists and labour market analysts, the city’s magnetism for tourists and export-import business is helping prevent the downturn that that has taken hold in other regions of the country. The only county with a faster increase in wages than Queens saw was Clayton County in Georgia, the labour bureau reported. According to the Times article, Clayton, a suburban area just south of Atlanta, “appears to have little in common with Queens except airports; Clayton is home to Atlanta’s busy Hartsfield airport.” In Clayton County, wages soared 87 per cent, to $1,358 a week, according to the report. The average wage there ranked third in the country, behind those in Manhattan and Santa Clara, California. • Even as the airports of New York flourish, the city’s status as a global gateway may be in jeopardy. While US visa restrictions are generally seen as a problem principally for technology companies in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the West, the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy group, says there is more demand for visas for specialized jobs in the New York metropolitan area – New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut – than in California ( New York Times , 24 March). “New York’s ability to compete with London, which [benefits from] much more open immigration, or with the emerging financial capitals in Asia and the Middle East, depends on mobility of talent,” Kathryn S Wylde, president of the partnership, told the Times . “New York’s standing as an international capital of business and finance depends on the professionals within these companies being able to come to New York to be trained and groomed for leadership positions around the world.” Demand for the coveted three-year H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers far outstrips supply, limited to 65,000 visas a year, with an additional 20,000 available for those offering advanced degrees from American universities.

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M ay 2008

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