PRESS RELEASES

Release Date: August 26, 2004

CONTACT:
Lacey Siegel, Public Relations Associate, 212-614-5495
Nancy Rankin, Director Research and Policy, 212-614-5309

Most New Yorkers Say Jobs and The Economy Remain Top Issues Despite City Being Ground Zero

New York, NY, August 26, 2004 – For the third consecutive year, jobs and the economy are viewed as the top problem facing the city by a wide margin. Signs of economic recovery especially lag for low-income groups: nine out of 10 say their family finances have not improved over last year; 36% say they are even worse off. It is only slightly better for higher income New Yorkers as eight out of 10 report no economic improvement for their families over last year; 21% say they are worse off.These are some of the findings of the third annual survey conducted by Lake Snell Perry & Associates for the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), a nonpartisan service and research organization that addresses urban poverty.

CSS's annual survey, The Unheard Third, tracks the views of lower income city residents to bring their opinions and concerns to the attention of elected officials. A presentation with detailed findings is available at www.cssny.org/pdfs/UnheardThird2004.pdf

"At a time when the national spotlight is on New York City, it is very important that our findings be heard. They highlight issues that are not being addressed in this year"s election campaign -- job creation, affordable housing and other concerns of low-income families. These issues will resonate not only with New York City voters -- but with voters in states with large cities," said David R. Jones, president of CSS.

"CSS research affirms our development of human service programs to aid the working poor, like food stamp outreach and homelessness prevention," said Lawrence Mandell, president and CEO of United Way of New York City. "This kind of information helps ensure that we properly design programs that address the needs that the poor themselves have articulated."

Housing worries have grown over the past three years for low-income New Yorkers, from 18% in 2002 who said this was their greatest personal worry, to 30% in August of 2004. "Despite the fact that a third of voting age citizens in New York City live below twice the poverty level, their voices often go unheard by policy-makers," said Nancy Rankin, the study"s lead researcher. Fifty-seven percent of all New Yorkers feel that federal policies have made things worse for people like themselves, with 41% of both income groups saying "a lot worse" (up from 36% last year).

New Yorkers Favor Policies that Help Working Families

New Yorkers across all income levels favor an agenda to help working people meet their family responsibilities: rolling back some of the tax cuts to decrease the deficit without cutting domestic spending on education, housing and health (76%); raising the federal minimum wage (94%); guaranteeing paid sick leave (71%); and promoting training and education to help more people move from welfare to work (76%).

The Community Service Society recommends:

• Increasing federal dollars to build and safeguard affordable housing
• Providing greater resources -- and better allocation of resources -- to homeland security
• Establishing measures to help people get ahead (i.e., increased minimum wage, paid sick leave)

In addition to asking about national policies, the survey probed attitudes on local issues including proposed construction projects and the public schools, and tracked changes in hardships, receipt of employee and public benefits, and employment status among lower income New Yorkers. The Community Service Society anticipates releasing these findings in mid-October.

Employee Benefits

The survey showed that 58% of poor full-time workers did not have employee health insurance for their families and that 40% failed to get coverage for themselves. In addition, 66% of poor full-time workers did not receive a prescription drug plan. In contrast, only 15% of moderate to higher-income respondents said their employers did not provide health benefits. Moreover, 61% of poor, full-time workers surveyed reported they did not have even a single day of paid sick leave.

Over half the respondents living below the poverty level report they have less than $500 to fall back on in an emergency and one out of three have less than $100. "For those without any savings, losing a few days' pay to stay home with a sick child or serious illness can mean not being able to meet the rent or put food on the table," said Rankin

Consensus in Helping People Get Ahead

• Increasing federal dollars to build and safeguard affordable housing
• Providing greater resources -- and better allocation of resources -- to homeland security
• Establishing measures to help people get ahead (i.e., increased minimum wage, paid sick leave)

How the Survey Was Conducted

The survey was conducted through telephone interviews between July 14 and August 1, 2004, with a total of 1,300 New York City residents age 18 or older, including 1,000 low-income respondents living below 200% of the federal poverty level – about $30,000 for a family of three - and a comparison sample of 300 higher income respondents. In figures reported for the combined total, respondents in the low-income sample have been weighted down to their actual proportion of the New York City population. The margin of error for the low-income component is +/-3/1%; for the higher income component +/-5.7%; and for the total +/- 4.3%.

Financial support for this survey was provided by United Way of New York City, The Rockefeller Foundation and The New York Community Trust.

The Community Service Society is an independent, nonprofit organization that for more than 150 years has provided innovative solutions to help New Yorkers in need deal with the problems of poverty and strengthen community life for all. Through a combination of service initiatives, policy analysis, and advocacy we bring about systemic change that empowers those in need to advocate for themselves.

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