We asked the candidates for mayor to tell us how they propose to manage the city’s economic strategy; this is important for New York’s working families, but has not been discussed sufficiently in the debates or the coverage by mainstream media. 
 
The policies of the Giuliani administration did too little to improve the jobs and incomes of millions of low-wage workers. It failed to use the fruits of the economic boom to put in place protections against the risks of a recession. It largely ignored the needs of unionized workers for training and better job security. It permitted the housing crisis to intensify, making it harder than ever for working families to sustain their standard of living.
 
The result is that the city is not well positioned to conserve the economic gains of the boom period of the 1990s, or to ensure that working people can support themselves and their families in hard times.
 
This is the challenge that candidates for mayor need to address. We’ve summarized their responses below, in order to make it possible to judge who will do what is required for New York’s workers.

Send us your responses. We may print them in an upcoming forum.