November 30, 2008
Associated Press Reports on New Jersey’s Business Climate
"News is Good, and Not So Good, for NJ Businesses"
By Angela Delli Santi
With the withering economy putting the squeeze on New Jersey businesses, Gov. Jon S. Corzine has been pushing legislation that reward companies for calling the Garden State home.
But, a few well-intentioned proposals may not change the state's long-held, antibusiness reputation.
The 1,450 employers polled by the New Jersey Business & Industry Association for its 2009 outlook survey expect conditions to remain bleak for months. They say the climate is as bad as in prior recessions, and few expect to add to their payrolls soon.
The state's unemployment rate hit 6 percent in October. While that's a half-percent better than the national rate, it was the state's highest rate in five years, and a leading economist here said New Jersey could lose another quarter-million jobs before employment conditions improve.
"The state of the economy has focused the governor and the Legislature very acutely on what we need to do to provide a stimulus in the short run and long-term fixes that will help businesses when we finally come out of this slump," said Melanie Willoughby, senior vice president with NJBIA. "New Jersey has had a difficult business climate. The focus of the governor and the Legislature now on trying to deal with these problems is the silver lining in the cloud."
However, a Tax Foundation report out this fall ranked the Garden State last among the 50 states in its business climate index.
