The next hot documents for the coming political season in New York are two jobs reports released on Tuesday. They certainly give politicians across the state plenty to think about, and for those of us city dwellers concerned about upstate, the economic news is not encouraging. More than a decade after Governor Pataki was first sworn in, and nearly six years after Senator Clinton launched a “listening tour” to highlight the concerns of upstaters, the economy north and west of Albany is still lagging.

Both a report published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and one issued by the Public Policy Institute of New York State found that job growth in the Empire State is below the national average, and the problem is much worse upstate than it is in the five boroughs and their environs. Statewide job growth was 0.94% for April, May, and June of this year compared to the same period a year ago, while the national rate was 1.63%,according to a summary of the FDIC report published by Gannett News Service.

This is not simply a matter of the sunbelt versus the northeast. Employment in New York lagged – grew more slowly than – New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Connecticut. Regional differences within New York state are as pronounced as ever. Over the past year, employment in the New York metropolitan area has grown by 1.1%. But while Poughkeepsie, at 1.63%, and Albany, at 1.47%, appear to be thriving – relatively speaking – other regions are not. Buffalo posted anemic job growth of 0.01%, and Rochester actually lost jobs, with employment declining by 0.65%.

The Public Policy Institute study found similarly depressing trends, but over a longer span. Between 1990 and 2004, payroll growth in New York state as a whole was 2.9%. But the national average for the same period was just over 20%. In Ohio and Michigan, payroll growth was 10.7% and 10.6% respectively. These results have become all too normal over the years. A spokesman for the Business Council of New York State, Matthew Maguire, reminded The New York Sun yesterday afternoon that his group has been warning of upstate economic woes for a long time.

Mr. Maguire points to four factors in particular that dramatically affect the ability of businesses to create jobs, and all are influenced in some way by government: taxes, health insurance costs, workers’ compensation premiums, and electricity rates. New York has problems with all four, most notably taxation and workers’ comp.

New York families and businesses labor under the heaviest tax burden in the nation – by one count, upstate New Yorkers shell out an extra $6 billion in taxes beyond what their neighbors in Ohio pay for the same level of government services. New York’s workers’ comp system pays out 70% more a claim than the national average, a fact reflected in high premiums that further stifle businesses, especially small ones. These factors help explain why New York has garnered “laggard” status for some time now.

Enterprising candidates looking for issues on which to campaign will have plenty of targets. To name but one: The state’s $42 billion Medicaid program eats 36.6% of the state’s budget, but reform of a system that costs more than those of California and Texas combined seems stubbornly out of reach. Only recently did one would-be governor, Attorney General Spitzer, become interested in using his powers to combat rampant fraud in the system. He’ll have to try even harder, particularly if he faces competition from a Republican candidate, in William Weld, with a track record of reforming another state’s Medicaid system.

New Yorkers will also be keeping an eye out for candidates who want to change the political culture in Albany. Below-average job growth and above-average expenses aren’t an accident; rather, Mr. Maguire suggests that policy errors are imported by Albany from New York City. As a global city and the world’s financial capital, the city has been even more aggressively preyed upon by politicians seeking higher taxes than most normal cities under the assumption that businesses will want to set up shop in a world-class metropolis no matter what the tax level.

The fact that New York City competes with other high-tax cities such as Paris to attract employers apparently tempts city politicians to think they can wrap their hands around the neck of the golden goose with impunity. Albany seems infected with the idea that New York state is somehow different, and that the state’s economy can bear ever more taxation, even though most parts of New York vie with neighboring states, not foreign capitals, for new jobs.

The FDIC report reminds everyone that a sense of exceptionalism isn’t working for the city, where job growth lags the national average, and it’s failing miserably for many other parts of the state, which lag the city. Before they return to Albany in January, legislators might want to ponder this report long and hard. And 2006 candidates should be on notice – we’ll be all ears to hear their plans for tackling the problem. Meantime, Thomas Suozzi, Mr. Weld, Edward Cox, Randy Daniels, call your offices and get a hold of those latest reports.