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Rudy Giuliani on Jobs

Former Mayor of New York City; Republican Candidate for 2000 Senate (NY)


FactCheck: Cut unemployment substantially, but not in half

Giuliani claimed: “When I became mayor the economy of NYC was in very, very bad shape--tremendous deficits, ten-and-a-half-percent unemployment, 300,000 jobs gone. We turned that around, cut unemployment by more than half, brought in 450,000 new jobs.”

Any way you look at it, though, Giuliani’s being misleading. In December 2001, his last month in office, the unadjusted rate was 7.5%, the same as the adjusted rate. There was just one month, May 2001, when the unadjusted rate fell to 5.0%, the only one during his tenure when he could claim to have cut unemployment “by more than half.” In our judgment, it’s deceptive for Giuliani to cherry-pick a month to compare to the rate in the month he was inaugurated.

Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida , Jan 24, 2008

Vibrant unions good; but compelling membership bad

Q: Are unions good for America?

GIULIANI: Sure, I think unions have made a positive contribution. My grandmother was an early member of the United Ladies Garment Workers Union, and I don’t know that our family would have gotten out of poverty without that. But the reality is that there are good unions, and there are bad unions. Our free economy is like that.

McCAIN: I come from a right-to-work state. If someone wants to join a union in my state, they’re free to do so, but they are not compelled to do so.

GIULIANI: You know, the UAW reached a very responsible pact the other day. I don’t know that you could have gotten a solution like that if you didn’t have a vibrant union. But there are ones that aren’t good unions, and I think the senator is correct -- people should have a right to either belong to a union or not.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan , Oct 9, 2007

1990s NYC unemployment fell but so did working class wages

The right question in assessing Giuliani economic legacy is not whether he created the boon economy. He didn’t. Rather, the question is, How did Giuliani play the excellent economic hand he was dealt? By that measure, the major story of the Giuliani year constitutes, all in all, a missed opportunity.

The good news was that by the end of the 1990s, the unemployment rate was low for white New Yorkers, at 3.6% in 2000, though not for blacks and Hispanics, at 7.5% and 8%, respectively. But the bad news was that holding a job was often insufficient to keep a family securely above the poverty line.

In 1998, the surfeit of applicants for inexpensive labor, fed by a sizable reduction in the welfare rolls, helped employers cut wages. Worse, Giuliani reversed the role that city government traditionally played in setting the salary standard for low-level employees. Over time, Giuliani’s policies governing $5 billion worth of city-contracted social services contributed to pulling wages downward.

Source: America‘s Mayor, America‘s President?, by R. Polner, p.142-3 , May 2, 2007

Work is a good thing

New York is moving in the direction of reestablishing the work ethnic. Work is a good thing. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s the reason that people have come to America in large, large numbers to work, to create a better opportunity for themselves and their children. It’s what immigration is all about. And work allows you to take care of yourself and your family, and to achieve your dreams.
Source: 2000 State of the City Address , Jan 13, 2000

305,000 jobs created during Rudy’s tenure

Over the past five years, the City has gained over 305,000 broad-based private sector jobs, which is 99% of the private sector jobs lost before the Mayor came into office. This five-year period has yielded the greatest job growth in the City’s history, 1998 being the strongest to date. For the first time in many years, NYC’s economy has grown at a faster rate than the Nation’s economy.
Source: RudyYes.com, “Proven Leadership” web site , Dec 9, 1999

Other candidates on Jobs: Rudy Giuliani on other issues:
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Page last updated: Feb 23, 2012