Regional Review: Job Creation and Industrial Development Agencies, examines the performance of Industrial Development Agencies, or IDAs, New York’s main job creation tool. The report reviews the most recent IDA data from the New York State Office of the Comptroller and provides a statewide and region-by-region snapshot of subsidy performance in each of New York’s ten regions.
Regional Review found that IDAs are not living up to their job creation promises. Although IDA performance varies considerably in each region, all regions have a poor track record of job creation and retention, with no region meeting or exceeding its job goals in a majority of completed projects. One-half of all projects that ended in 2009 failed to create a single job. In 2009, $141 million in IDA tax breaks went to companies that either cut jobs or failed to create any new jobs.