Less people are leaving the state according to the New York Times:

In what may prove a silver lining in the latest economic black cloud, New York lost fewer residents to other states in 2007-8 than during any year in at least a generation.

Between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, New York recorded a net loss of 126,000 residents to other states — meaning 126,000 more people moved out than moved in — according to an analysis by demographers at Queens College.

But the job losses in the New York metro area exceed those of anywhere else in the US.  At least according to The Conference of Mayors:

Only five metropolitan areas in the U.S. will escape job losses this year, according to a forecast released Saturday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.New York is expected to take the biggest hit as thousands of jobs are lost on Wall Street.

Big financial firms are slashing workers as they cope with bad debt. Other companies have gone under, like Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in September.

The New York area is expected to lose 181,000 jobs in 2009, the report said. Consulting company IHS Global Insight produced the report for the group.

Finally, the Tax Foundation--a Righty fiscal think tank--says three out of the top ten counties in terms of local tax burden are located in New York.

The Rochester D&C drills down into the report and says that Upstate property tax burdens--as percentage of property value--are highest in western New York:

Upstate and, more specifically, western New York bears the nation's highest property tax burden as a percentage of home values, with Orleans County leading the way, a recent report from the Tax Foundation shows.

Of the top 20 counties in median property taxes as a percentage of home value, all but one is in New York, according to the nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C. Monroe County ranks fifth, and Wayne, Genesee and Livingston counties also place in the top 10.

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Somewhere out there, there's an economist who prognosticated all these things a long time ago.

But it's not Ben Bernanke. 

(Runner up to The Ugly: The US senator from New York selection process.)