What businesses/How can we revitalize in Nassau county?

[lifetimeliguy]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

I'd rather the suburbs start thinking really hard about what would make it far more advantageous for businesses to locate there instead of Manhattan. Right now it's really hard to think of good answers.

one thing that hurts us is the lack of mass transit. If you work for one of the few large companies left here (Canon, Nikon), you drive to work.
Cities like Stamford began to thrive because of their proximity to mass transit. A few towns on LI could develop a core around their train stations (Hicksville comes to mind) with office buildings and (God forbid) apartments ...
but the name of the place may have to be changed.
I don't know if tax and utility breaks are the answer ... the homeowners end up paying even more in the end.
Down by Princeton NJ there are many employers that no doubt see the university as a magnet for growth. Stony Brook ain't Princeton but it's good enough to attract new businesses.

[longislander2]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

I work for a financial company downtown. We hire analysts with 3-4 years experience for $60K to $70K. Middle office jobs like data integrity and settlements get paid even lower. Maybe $50K range for 3 years experience. Investment banks will pay only slightly higher for those job descriptions. Japanese banks will pay a little lower than us. Very rarely do firms pay above $100K for someone with less than 10 years experience. Applicants come from all over - the boroughs, NJ, even Westchester and LI and we keep getting tons of resumes. If we moved these ops to LI, I bet we will still get lots of resumes at those or even lower payscales.

Don't know about Chicago or elsewhere but we have sattelite offices there and if those cities were really compelling wage-wise then we and the other financial companies would have brought those jobs to those cities long ago.

You need to break down which costs make LI uncompetitive. I don't think its salaries because there are lots of people nowadays who will settle for lower payscales despite the high taxes. It would be other costs like energy and productivity (linked to infra), but that was my point earlier about the need to build infrastructure for the sake of competitiveness.

I'm not sure you get what we're talking about. Your company is probably entrenched here because it is a financial company that needs to be near NY's financial center. (Either that, or your CEO likes living in NY.) Your salaries -- while relatively low for people coping with living costs in Nassau and Suffolk -- probably still give you plenty of warm bodies to fill positions because 1) across the nation there are an average of three workers for every open position, and 2) people will take anything these days rather than be unemployed. All you have to do is observe the long lines of applicants even when minimum wage positions are advertised. And if you think a $50-$70K salary is not affected by LI's high taxes, then you probably don't live out here.

What we're talking about is the probability of companies outside of NY relocating to LI and the chances of that are relatively poor because of a business-unfriendly environment, including high living costs for employees. I only used Chicago as one example. If you take the time and effort to look at the cost of living calculators, you'll see that, in almost every case, Nassau's costs for transportation, housing, utilities, etc. are well above those for other parts of the country. So, if I'm a CEO in Chicago, for example, why would I move my company to Long Island and pay my employees 16% more without them seeing any positive change in their financial circumstances? It simply makes no sense.

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Originally Posted by longislander2

I'm not sure you get what we're talking about. Your company is probably entrenched here because it is a financial company that needs to be near NY's financial center. (Either that, or your CEO likes living in NY.) Your salaries -- while relatively low for people coping with living costs in Nassau and Suffolk -- probably still give you plenty of warm bodies to fill positions because 1) across the nation there are an average of three workers for every open position, and 2) people will take anything these days rather than be unemployed. All you have to do is observe the long lines of applicants even when minimum wage positions are advertised. And if you think a $50-$70K salary is not affected by LI's high taxes, then you probably don't live out here.

Those are the payscales we are seeing and they are actually true for those jobs across the financial sector. I don't know how you can say you're not sure what I'm talking about since this is pretty widespread. Other corporate jobs requiring the same experience (media, telco, IT, etc.) pay the same range. So the norm in NYC for 5 years max experience is way below 6 digits. Try looking for a business analyst or IT admin job that pays $116K. The $200K+/year wages that Mt. Sinai surgeons and biglaw parters make is the exception. Nothing surprising there.

And what you say about having plenty of warm bodies to fill the positions is true across the country. That is not unique to our company. IT jr. manager, account manager, wealth advisor, research associate/analyst, budget manager - those jobs pay or will be paying less than $100K wherever you go.

My point is this - If our company (and many others) are hiring people at those wages here in Manhattan, why couldn't it have been done in LI? Wouldn't it be good for LI's economy if we located these jobs in Lake Success instead of downtown?

Alas, it is too late. Once all that new office space at the Freedom Tower and midtown east comes to market, those desk jobs will have very little reason to leave Manhattan.

Originally Posted by longislander2

What we're talking about is the probability of companies outside of NY relocating to LI and the chances of that are relatively poor because of a business-unfriendly environment, including high living costs for employees. I only used Chicago as one example. If you take the time and effort to look at the cost of living calculators, you'll see that, in almost every case, Nassau's costs for transportation, housing, utilities, etc. are well above those for other parts of the country. So, if I'm a CEO in Chicago, for example, why would I move my company to Long Island and pay my employees 16% more without them seeing any positive change in their financial circumstances? It simply makes no sense.

Why worry about relocating companies outside NY? There have been many jobs in the metro area that can more easily be located in LI and would fit with the local economy. Chicago is home to many commodities companies. Don't think any of them would be interested in going to LI. Same thing with Los Angeles and their Kaiser Permanente system.

You also need to break down the costs to understand the problem. You can't paint a broad picture saying that "costs in LI are high". As what I've stated above, not all costs in LI are high. I do not think wages in LI are high and it would certainly have been good for our company to put all those support jobs on the island. Personal costs like house taxes and house utilities are irrelevant as long as there are enough people willing to take on those jobs at that payscale (and there are). Most of our support staff living outside of NYC come from NJ. How do you think they cope with their high taxes and COL?

The other elephant in the room is that Manhattan is retaining and now looking to attract more office jobs. If Manhattan can do it, why can't LI? Presumably your COL calculator will also say the same thing about NYC vs. Chicago/NC/SLC but unlike LI, the city is looking to attract jobs. Why is the opposite happening in LI?

Transportation, telecommunications and commercial electricity are real issues but that goes back to my earlier point about needing to develop the right infrastructure and business incentives. That really spells out LI's problem. It's not the wages, it's the infrastructure and incentives. That is why Manhattan can retain and attract office jobs, and LI cannot.

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

Those are the payscales we are seeing and they are actually true for those jobs across the financial sector. I don't know how you can say you're not sure what I'm talking about since this is pretty widespread. Other corporate jobs requiring the same experience (media, telco, IT, etc.) pay the same range. So the norm in NYC for 5 years max experience is way below 6 digits. Try looking for a business analyst or IT admin job that pays $116K. The $200K+/year wages that Mt. Sinai surgeons and biglaw parters make is the exception. Nothing surprising there.

And what you say about having plenty of warm bodies to fill the positions is true across the country. That is not unique to our company. IT jr. manager, account manager, wealth advisor, research associate/analyst, budget manager - those jobs pay or will be paying less than $100K wherever you go.

My point is this - If our company (and many others) are hiring people at those wages here in Manhattan, why couldn't it have been done in LI? Wouldn't it be good for LI's economy if we located these jobs in Lake Success instead of downtown?

Alas, it is too late. Once all that new office space at the Freedom Tower and midtown east comes to market, those desk jobs will have very little reason to leave Manhattan.



Why worry about relocating companies outside NY? There have been many jobs in the metro area that can more easily be located in LI and would fit with the local economy. Chicago is home to many commodities companies. Don't think any of them would be interested in going to LI. Same thing with Los Angeles and their Kaiser Permanente system.

You also need to break down the costs to understand the problem. You can't paint a broad picture saying that "costs in LI are high". As what I've stated above, not all costs in LI are high. I do not think wages in LI are high and it would certainly have been good for our company to put all those support jobs on the island. Personal costs like house taxes and house utilities are irrelevant as long as there are enough people willing to take on those jobs at that payscale (and there are). Most of our support staff living outside of NYC come from NJ. How do you think they cope with their high taxes and COL?

The other elephant in the room is that Manhattan is retaining and now looking to attract more office jobs. If Manhattan can do it, why can't LI? Presumably your COL calculator will also say the same thing about NYC vs. Chicago/NC/SLC but unlike LI, the city is looking to attract jobs. Why is the opposite happening in LI?

Transportation, telecommunications and commercial electricity are real issues but that goes back to my earlier point about needing to develop the right infrastructure and business incentives. That really spells out LI's problem. It's not the wages, it's the infrastructure and incentives. That is why Manhattan can retain and attract office jobs, and LI cannot.

I wish you would come and bring some regional wage reality to those who claim LI kindergarten teachers who work 9 months out of the year "need" to be paid $155K with pensions paid by the taxpayers on Maybe I should have been a teacher!