Last year, when wages rose, state pensions increased by 1.1percentt.
"In this economic reality, rising state work force costs are unsustainable," Mr. Cuomo said in a statement.
His opponents accuse him of a lack of focus, and point to rising state debt and perennial education woes.
Middle-income households did get a tax cut in 1981, but its value was steadily eroded by rising state and local taxes.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, and Democratic leaders, fearful about the economic downturn and rising state deficits, could not agree on what to do about state spending.
It's a sign of rising state dependency but not quite in the way that Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions minister, describes.
A gas explosion killed at least 11 miners in the coal-rich northeastern province of Jilin, and the toll could rise, state news media and officials said.
When the money runs out, a rising state, which Smith described as "cheerful," gives way to a declining, "melancholy" one: promises can no longer be met, mistrust spreads and markets malfunction.
New York's rising state unemployment rate may have disguised other signs of health, however: New York added the second-highest number of payroll jobs in January, with 44,600; only Texas, with 67,200, added more.
But right now the Treasury can think of 1.7 billion reasons why they might not wish to expand already rising state spending on adult social care.
