Podcast: Reaping the benefits

It wasn’t that long ago when the prospect of a $15 minimum wage and a universal paid family leave program for New York seemed like a distant dream. But thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s newfound affinity for progressive issues – and some key compromises to appease state Senate Republicans – the state managed to pass both initiatives in the finalized budget last week.

On a special episode of The Slant Podcast this week, Alexis Grenell and I decided to take a deeper dive into these policies – namely how they will be phased in, the effect they might have on New York businesses, and their various “safety valves” and funding mechanisms. Joining us are two experts, Bryce Covert, ThinkProgress’ economic policy editor, and James Parrott, the deputy director and chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, who both have written extensively about these policies.

Bryce and James help us parse the differences between New York’s paid family leave policy and the proposals on the federal level, and whether the two-tiered system for phasing in the minimum wage makes sense rather than the California model of a single, statewide wage.

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