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Manhattanites Make Mo' Money, Other Borough-ites Get Raw Deal
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 25, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 25, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The NY Times looked at some numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed income dispartiy between Manhattan and the other boroughs. When looking at salaries adjusted by inflation, Manhattan salaries have increased while in the other boroughs, salaries have decreased. Cost of living expenses, like rent and utilities, have outpaced many raises that outer borough residents do get. A Crown Heights resident, whose rent went up 11.8% (from $850 to $950), told the Times he felt "priced out of Brooklyn, where I was born and bred...I feel disgusted. I feel like the 'Sex and the City' set has taken over, spending most of their money on rents, which puts pressure on the rest of us." And relative to the rest of the country, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens were doing worse with lower wage increases and higher inflation, which might very well be why NJ and even Pennsylvania is looking better and better.
Of course, the borough comparison doesn't really speak to overall income disparity between the classes (hello, two New Yorks). We're going to discount the Manhattan data, because we feel the highest tier of earners is skewing the facts a little, because these issues face a lot of New Yorkers - your rent goes up 10%, but you're not getting a 10% raise to go along with that; your work doesn't cover as much of your health insurance anymore; the mayor imposes another 50 charge on cigarettes; it goes on. Where will it end?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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