Employment Data for Buffalo

The types of jobs available in Buffalo have changed post-recession, with midlevel skilled jobs disappearing and high and low skill jobs growing. The loss of jobs in fields such as teaching, office administration, factory work and construction work during the recession is exacerbated by the fact that many midlevel jobs, such as manufacturing, are being automated or sent to cheaper markets. Growth has occurred on the high and low skill ends of the spectrum, however, with increases in fields that require high-level business skill, healthcare expertise, computer training, engineering, etc. At the low end, there has been growth in food preparation, personal care, and jobs such as store clerks and child care providers. These changes are reflected in the fact that 31.2% of employed persons in Buffalo work in management, professional, and related occupations, and 20.8% work in service occupations, as of 2012. The data suggests the need for workers in Buffalo to acquire more education, training, and skills to ameliorate growing inequality and polarization in the job market, and for expansion of policies like living wages to ensure that the high number of low-skill jobs does not result in higher poverty

Project Dandelion

Project Dandelion, a project of Neighborhood Legal Services, brings together community and legal support for families and individuals receiving public assistance, helping them to attain economic self-sufficiency through legal advocacy, training, peer group support, publications, volunteer opportunities, and legal information

How the Seneca Gaming Corporation has Violated its Contract and Broken Its Promises to the City of Buffalo

The Seneca Gaming Corporation promised the City of Buffalo, in a legally binding contract, that it would construct a tourist destination casino in a park-like setting, market it to out-of-town visitors, and employ large numbers of Buffalonians. However, the idea of a tourist casino in downtown Buffalo was never realistic. The SGC has violated nearly every term in its contract, showing blatant disregard for the City, and its current plans reveal the casino for what it was always destined to be: an urban “convenience” casino located in one of the poorest sections of one of the poorest cities in the nation, drawing almost entirely from local residents, and destroying far more jobs at local businesses than it creates. The costs to the City from this broken contract dramatically outweigh the benefits

State Funding for the NFTA Reduces Pollution, Fights Poverty, and Promotes Economic Development

New York State should support public transit in Buffalo-Niagara by increasing Transit Operating Assistance and increasing the NFTA’s allocation of low-cost electric power. There is no more effective tool for reducing pollution, cutting poverty, and promoting economic development than affordable and comprehensive mass transit. In recent years, New York State has been cutting its funding to the NFTA, even as the NFTA’s costs have been rising. State funding has been cut by $4.3 million since 2009, even as workers compensation costs rose 35$7 million per year

Poverty: A State of Extremes

New York was the only state where both poverty and income exceeded national levels in 2005, with 13.8% of residents living in poverty and a median household income of $49,480. This high poverty/high income paradox underscores a widening ‘wealth gap’ observed in New York and nationwide. Buffalo Niagara differed from the state in 2005, with a poverty rate (12.7$4,000 below the U.S. median. Within the region, extreme disparities persisted between city and suburb. The City of Buffalo had a poverty rate nearly double the U.S. average and a much lower median income while its largest suburb, Amherst, had lower poverty and higher income than the U.S. Figures for Buffalo’s working-class suburbs of Cheektowaga and Tonawanda were the opposite of the state, with both poverty and income below U.S. levels

The Job of a UB Janitor

It varies. You can do carpet shampoo, floor work, taking care of trash, recycling, clean up spills of blood or chemicals, snow removal. It depends on the building. I work in some of the medical buildings where there are different labs and experiments. Other people who work in residence halls do not deal with these different conditions. Yeah, you bet it can be dangerous. Some of the areas where people work have nuclear materials. There is a nuclear reactor that people work in. The people who work in nuclear areas require special training about safety. Animal testing labs can be dangerous. In the labs with mice, you have to be aware of what you are dealing with

School Bus Monitors in Western New York

The New York State Department of Education defines a “bus monitor” (also commonly referred to as a “bus aide”) as any person employed for the purpose of assisting children to safely embark and disembark from a school bus which is owned, leased or contracted for by a public school district or board of cooperative educational services, and for the purpose of assisting the school bus driver with maintaining proper student behavior on such school bus

The Problem of Worker Misclassification

Employee misclassification is a significant problem that continues to plague the labor market. Unscrupulous and unknowing employers alike are costing individual workers and society tremendously. Not only are workers missing out on legal protections, but society is losing contributions from employers that should be paid into different employment systems (payroll taxes, unemployment benefits, workers compensation benefits, etc.)

Poverty Level Work in Western New York

A large percentage of the jobs in western New York do not pay enough to keep a family safely out of poverty. Roughly 125,000 workers are in occupations for which the median wage is less than $20,000 per year – including salespeople, cashiers, security guards, and child care workers. Another 40,000 workers are in jobs where the median wage falls between$20,000 and $23,000 – including janitors, home health aides, pre-school teachers, and teachers assistants