The Empire State Jobs Retention Program was created to provide financial incentives to retain strategic businesses and jobs that are at risk of leaving the state due to the impact on business operations from a natural disaster.
Firms admitted to the Empire State Jobs Retention Program may qualify for a jobs tax credit of 6.85 percent of wages per impacted job that is retained in NYS. Impacted jobs mean those jobs of the firm existing at a location(s) within a county declared an emergency by the governor on the day before the event occurred that led to the emergency declaration. The applicant must demonstrate substantial physical damage and economic harm resulting from such event.
The Program is available to firms operating in the strategic industries that:
(1) are located in a county in which an emergency has been declared by the Governor;
2) demonstrate substantial physical damage and economic harm resulting from the event leading to the emergency declaration; and
(3) employ at least 100 employees in the county in which an emergency has been declared and retain or exceed that number of jobs in New York State.
Only those impacted jobs that are retained by the firm are eligible for the jobs retention credit. Applications must be submitted within 180 days of the declaration of an emergency by the Governor in the county in which the business enterprise is located.
The Jobs Retention Program only becomes available during times of a declared state of emergency by the Governor. See additional information in the Overview section above.
Strategic businesses seeking to be admitted to the Program must complete an application and are strongly encouraged to contact the appropriate ESD Regional Office before completing the application.