Report

New York merchandise exports

Abstract: New York's merchandise export performance has lagged that of the U.S. economy over the first part of the 1990s. Such slippage could be due to slow growth in export markets, a concentration in slow-growth product lines, and/or declining competitiveness relative to the overall U.S. economy. We find that none of these factors fully explains the declining share of New York merchandise exports. New York's export markets are growing nearly as fast as the U.S. foreign market; New York exports are more concentrated in the industries with fastest export growth than the U.S. average; and New York's unit labor costs by and large compare favorably with overall U.S. unit labor costs. Rather, total New York manufacturing output has been slipping behind U.S. manufacturing in a way not explained by relative unit labor cost trends. The lagging performance of New York goods exports appears to be a symptom of broader problems within the New York manufacturing sector.

Keywords: Manufactures; New York (State); Exports;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Part of Series: Research Paper

Publication Date: 1995

Number: 9529