Cuomo’s Epic Jobs Fail

The epic failure of Gov. Cuomo’s signature jobs program should get New Yorkers’ blood boiling: Not only did it fail to produce many jobs; it also wasted $53 million.

No wonder Cuomo & Co. waited three months to release the results, and only did so at 4:30 p.m. Friday, right before the start of a holiday weekend — and in a footnote.

After two years of operation, it turns out Cuomo’s Start-Up New York managed to generate all of 408 jobs. This after spending at least $53 million on promotion costs alone — or nearly $130,000 a job.

Designed to dispel New York’s richly deserved reputation as a business-repelling high-tax state, Start-Up creates tax-free zones for new or expanding companies.

In 2014, its first year, officials said it created all of 76 jobs. Team Cuomo blamed the low number on growing pains. But what was last year’s total? Just 332 jobs. Pathetic.

The gov’s aides say Start-Up’s success can’t be judged by numbers alone. But how else do you judge a jobs-creation program?

And here’s the kicker: Even if the program meets its target figure — 4,000 jobs over five years — that would represent a pathetic 0.1 percent growth in the state’s nearly 4 mil

lion private-sector jobs. As the Empire Center notes, New York’s sky-high taxes are a deterrent to companies (and the jobs they create), but the state’s anti-business climate woes go well beyond taxes — particularly given its massive overregulation and other cost-drivers. The governor’s successful bid to force employers to pay workers a minimum of $15 an hour is just the most recent example.

Clearly Start-Up isn’t helping the economy much. On the other hand, its ads did promote the governor. Gee, it almost makes you think that was its real goal . . .