CITYWIDE

LABOR STATS: GOVERNMENT HOURLY WAGES HIGHER THAN PRIVATE SECTOR

Contrary to the belief that public-sector employees need generous fringe benefits in order to make their salaries competitive with private-sector employees, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2004, the hourly earnings of state and local government employees exceeded those of private-sector employees in the greater New York City region.

In an analysis of the recent BLS figures, the Citizens Budget Commission found that workers in the New York City region made about 15% more than their private-sector counterparts.The biggest gap was in blue-collar and service-worker occupations. Blue-collar workers were paid 30% more in the public sector, and workers in service occupations were paid 94% more, the figures showed.

In the white-collar occupations, the state and local government workers’ advantage was just 3% and not statistically significant. Private-sector managers were generally better paid than their government counterparts, while most administrative support and clerical personnel were paid about the same in the two sectors. “This data highlights the need for governments in the greater New York City area to rethink their fringe-benefits packages for public employees,” said CBC President Diana Fortuna.”The perception that public-sector wages are lower than those in the private sector has been used to justify relatively generous benefits packages. Those packages should now be brought more in line with the private sector.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MILLER ENDORSED BY AFRICAN-AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS

The speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, picked up endorsements from 28 African-American religious leaders in his bid for mayor yesterday.The endorsements were mostly from clergy members from black churches in the outer boroughs.

The speaker stood with many of the religious leaders outside City Hall yesterday, where they praised Mr. Miller’s work on education and his attempts to tackle unemployment. In a surprise move, the Reverend Alford Sharpton, a key black leader who endorsed Mr. Ferrer in the 2001 mayoral race, indicated earlier this week that he probably would not endorse any candidate in the Democratic primary.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

TEENAGE TOURIST SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN PARK

A 15-year-old girl visiting the city on vacation was forced to perform oral sex on a man who threatened to cut her with a knife inside a park on the Upper West Side early yesterday morning, police said.

The victim and a female teeneage friend had first met the man on the corner of 73rd Street and Broadway, police said, in an effort to buy marijuana from him. After agreeing to the sale, they walked to Riverside Park, near the Sailor’s Monument at 89th Street and Riverside Drive. Once inside the park, police said, the man pressured the teens into performing sexual favors with the threat of a knife, fondling the 16-year-old, and forcing the 15-year-old to perform oral sex on him.

The girls are from the Albany area and were visiting the city with several other students during their school’s spring break, police said. They are staying in a hotel on the Upper West Side.

In the 24th Precinct – which covers Riverside Park and much of the Upper West Side – to date in 2005, there have been four reports of rape, compared to four incidents for the entire year of 2004, police said. In 2003, the precinct had 14 reports of rape, police said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SIMON FOUNDATION PRIZES AWARDED AT PRINCETON CLUB

The William E. Simon Foundation will award its two prizes Friday to the chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins and the founder of Teach for America for their work to help children succeed in education.

The recipients, Dr. Benjamin Carson and Wendy Kopp, embody through their work the foundation’s purpose, which is to assist those in need by “providing the means through which they may help themselves.”

Dr. Carson, who will receive the William E. Simon Foundation Prize in Philanthropic Leadership, grew up in poverty on the streets of Detroit and eventually won a scholarship to Yale University. By the age of 33, he was named chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. With his wife, he formed the Carson’s Scholars Fund in 1994, which awards an academic scholarship of $1,000 to individual students in Baltimore public schools who exemplify strong academic skills and are involved in their communities.

Wendy Kopp, who will receive the William E. Simon Prize in Social Entrepreneurship, developed the idea for Teach for America while writing her senior thesis at Princeton. After 15 years and 9,000 alumni, the program continues to recruit top graduates to teach in America’s public schools. Its popularity among recent college graduates far exceeds the number of teaching positions it can fund. The award ceremony will be held Friday at the Princeton Club.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS TO 4.6%, LOWEST SINCE 2001

Statewide unemployment continued its decline in March to 4.6%, the lowest rate since June 2001, according to state Labor Department statistics released yesterday.

The March rate was down from 5.1% in February and from 6.1% in March 2004. It matches the June 2001 rate of 4.6%, according to the Labor Department. New York City’s unemployment rate was 5.2% in March, down from 6.1% a month before. The March rate matches the city’s lowest unemployment rate since January 2001. New York City’s unemployment rate in March also matched the nation’s rate for the first time since September 1988, according to the state statistics. The national unemployment rate was 5.2% in March, down from 5.4% in February and 5.7% in March 2004.

“In March, New York added private sector jobs for the seventh consecutive month, while our seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained below the nation’s rate for the third consecutive month,” said David Trzaskos, director of the state’s Division of Research and Statistics. He said the state “continues to see signs of an improving labor market.”

The New York State Business Council disagrees, and discounts the unemployment rate.

“It doesn’t count New Yorkers who have stopped looking for work and it doesn’t count New Yorkers who have become ex-New Yorkers and are now looking for work in South Carolina,” said the council’s spokesman, Matthew Maguire. Instead, the council compares job growth. Citing federal statistics, the council said New York’s job growth was 1.1% over the last 12 months compared to the national average of 1.6%.

– Associated Press