New Poll: 1/3 Of Young New Yorkers to Pack Out

The New York Post this morning is reporting that more than one-third of young New Yorkers are planning on leaving the State of New York. The article revealed that a new NY1/YNN-Marist poll shows that 36 percent of young New Yorkers under the age of 30 plan to leave that State of New York. Also 26 percent of New Yorkers between the ages of 30-44 also plan to leave the State of New York. This is a very troubling statistic. However this is one statistic that I can identify with.

The new poll reveals that these young New Yorkers are leaving the Empire State because of high taxes, very high living costs and lack of jobs.  Living in New York is not cheap. I recently was out apartment hunting and I can tell you that the cost of living is very high. It is very hard for young New Yorkers to live on their own with all of their school loans, credit card bills and other daily living expenses. Another major factor for this exodus is unemployment. Although the unemployment rate in the State of New York is about 8 percent, the unemployment rate among young New Yorkers is closer to 20 percent. When young people are faced with the realization that there is no economic future in New York they are leaving for other states.

This new poll also showed that 77 percent of New York State adults perceive the state as too expensive for an average family. Unless something is done quickly to address some of these concerns more and more young New Yorkers are going to continue to flee the Empire State and the brain drain is going to eventually take its toll on our state. I don’t have the answers on how to fix these problems but I know that the Governor Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg and both the City Council as well as the State Legislature better do something quickly or we are going to be in for a very serious economic situation.

Matthew Silverstein is 28 years old and is the Democratic State Committeeman for the 26th AD