Tag: Jobs

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Moving Out Costs New Jersey Big

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file photo by Boyd Loving

September 25,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Garden State saw a net decrease in population, with the number of people that moved out of the state of roughly 33,700, costing New Jersey about $2.6 billion in taxable income between 2014 and 2015, according to a USA Today Network analysis of IRS migration data.

New Jersey is constantly ranked as the worst business climate in the USA and the state the leads the nation in people wanting to leave .

According to OpportunityNJ, New Jersey ranks dead last in national rankings on the impacts of our four most significant taxes: property, income, sales and corporate business tax.Outmigration of New Jersey residents has had a significant impact on the state’s economy. High taxes and numerous barriers for business operations are causing people to leave the state which has led to the loss of income, economic activity and job creation.

OpportunityNJ (ONJ) is a non-partisan, grassroots coalition comprised of New Jersey interests representing employers, employees, business, trade groups, community organizations and other concerned citizens in the State.

This exodus has become so concerning to New Jersey business leaders that they have championed a campaign to make the state more affordable for its residents and more attractive to out-of-state residents on the move.

“We are at the bottom of every tax ranking. We have an affordability issue. We know why people are leaving,” Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of New Jersey Business and Industry Association.

Her organization estimates that New Jersey has lost over $21 billion in adjusted gross income since 2004 from people leaving the state. That translates to about 87,000 jobs, $13 billion in lost economic activity and $4.6 billion in lost labor income, Siekerka said.

Addressing the affordability issue would help keep seniors and millennials, both of which are the leading demographic groups leaving New Jersey, Siekerka said. When seniors leave, they take with them the bulk of the lost income. But when millennials flee, they take with them a life time of potential earnings. It’s a hit to the state’s future workforce, which means the state sees no benefit from roughly $250,000 per student in public education spending.“We invest in our K-12 education system significantly to have a good product,” Siekerka said. “When millennials leave New Jersey, we aren’t getting a return on that investment.”

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LANGSCHULTZ: NEW JERSEY’S WORST-IN-THE-NATION BUSINESS CLIMATE MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO ATTRACT BUSINESSES LIKE AMAZON

LANGSCHULTZ: NEW JERSEY'S WORST-IN-THE-NATION BUSINESS CLIMATE MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO ATTRACT BUSINESSES LIKE AMAZON

SENATOR BOB GORDON AND TRENTON ESTABLISHMENT HAVE INCREASED TAXES, REGULATIONS, AND FEES COSTING NEW JERSEY JOBS AND OPPORTUNITY

September 23,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

New Milford NJ, District 38 Amazon’s recent announcement of an RFP for states and municipalities to bid on hosting their second national headquarters, highlights the disastrous state of New Jersey’s business climate.

“With our proximity to New York City, talented workforce, and access to mass transit and numerous airports, North Jersey would serve as the perfect spot for Amazon to open its second national headquarters,” said Kelly Langschultz, candidate for New Jersey State Senate, District 38. “However, Senator Bob Gordon and the Trenton establishment have made it nearly impossible to attract businesses like Amazon, by raising taxes and fees and implementing job crushing regulations, year after year. Our crumbling roads and infrastructure, and the failure of the NJ Transit system contribute to our worst-in-the-nation business climate.”

Amazon’s second headquarters would create nearly 50,000 jobs and provide additional tax revenue to state and local municipalities.
“As a small business owner, I know first hand how difficult it is to do business in New Jersey. If we are to attract multi-national companies like Amazon, we need to act quickly and it starts with changing our elected representation in Trenton,” charged Langschultz. “Bob Gordon has no plans to grow our economy, because Bob Gordon has never signed the front of a paycheck, rather he’s always cashed his tax-payer funded governmental salary.”

“If elected, I will fight to cut taxes, fees, and regulations so that we can attract businesses like Amazon, creating tens of thousands of new jobs and bringing in new tax revenues to our state,” said Langschultz. “We need bold leadership in Trenton dedicated to improving our economy. Unfortunately, our current Senator is more beholden to the special interests and Trenton lobbyists, than he is to you. This November, you can change that by changing who represents you.”
Kelly Langschultz, candidate for New Jersey State Senate, District 38, is a mom of four young children, community leader serving on the New Milford Town Council, small business owner, and former President of the Education Fund.

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New Jersey Population Sinks for the First Time in a Decade

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September 16,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, New estimates from the American Community Survey which is billed as the premier source for detailed information about the American people and workforce , suggest New Jersey lost about 13,000 people from 2015 to 2016, which would reverse several years of slow growth since the state was decimated by the housing crisis in the mid-to-late-2000s.

If this holds New Jersey may have lost population for the first time in a decade .  Household formation is one of the key economic drivers . A loss of population could lead to further economic stagnation, a reduced tax base and a potential loss of a congressional district.

While many debate the issue analysis by NJ Advance Media (NJ.COM) shows about 226,000 people moved out of the state between 2015 and 2016, about 30,000 less than the total who moved to the Garden States from within the country and abroad.

With a historically low birth rate, New Jersey’s growth in recent years has hinged upon immigration . However the number of people leaving keeps growing, stagnating the state’s population on the cusp of nine million.

Poll after poll list New Jersey as the state most people want to leave . High taxes, particularly property taxes, estate taxes , high cost of living , state corruption and limited job opportunities  are all sighted as reasons to flee New Jersey.

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What tax reform may mean for New Jersey business D.C. may be a political universe away, but actions there can have a real impact on your bottom line

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By Dr. Sean Stein Smith, September 8, 2017 at 8:14 AM
Dr. Sean Stein Smith.

As Labor Day recedes into our collective memory, and the warm glow of summer fades away, the collective New Jersey business community is faced with the following reality.

The current administration in Washington appears to have focused on comprehensive tax reform as a pillar for reform, and with Congress returning from recess, there is a real possibility this plan will become reality. Although many people from the NJ/NY area commute on Amtrak/Acela to Washington on an ongoing basis, the implications for small business may be overlooked in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Regardless of whether or not the current political environment is perceived as favorable, or what other issues are continually ongoing, the reality of the situation is that tax reform is a real possibility.

Washington machinations are more than just fodder for Happy Hour conversation – these are issues and topics that can have a definite impact on your bottom line. As a CPA who lives in, has worked in, and who has advised entrepreneurs in New Jersey, but now works in New York, this is an issue I hear about and think about on a daily basis.

https://www.njbiz.com/article/20170908/INDINSIGHTS/170909895/what-tax-reform-may-mean-for-new-jersey-business

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The 20 N.J. industries that hired the most people last year

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Posted September 04, 2017 at 07:00 AM | Updated September 04, 2017 at 07:04 AM

 

By Erin Petenko | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

New Jersey’s private sector gained roughly 65,000 employees and 6,000 new establishments between 2015 and 2016, in line with the national average. It’s an improvement over the previous year, where the economy grew by only 55,000 jobs.

But annual wages increased slower here than in the rest of the country — residents gained an extra $429 per year, compared to the national average of $627.

Service-related industries dominate the state, employing nearly nine out of 10 New Jersey workers, while the manufacturing industry has experienced a long-term decline. By sector, education and health services gained the most employees, followed by professional services and the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

But what specific industries had the most growth? NJ Advance Media compared private industry data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to learn what industries gained the most employees from 2015 to 2016.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/09/the_20_nj_industries_that_hired_the_most_people_last_year.html

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New Jersey needs more workers with voc-tech training

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A new bipartisan legislative panel will look into addressing a shortage of middle-skilled workers in New Jersey.

Melanie Willoughby with the New Jersey Business and Industry Association said 80 percent of manufacturers in the nation have a serious shortage of qualified applicants for skilled production positions.

“This is not where we want to be with the manufacturing industry in New Jersey that is worth over $44 billion, paying an average salary of $90,450 without a BA.”

Senate President Steve Sweeney wants to put a bond act on next year’s ballot that would provide hundreds of millions of dollars to expand and equip New Jersey’s vocational-technical schools.

“Not everyone is meant to go to college and there’s nothing wrong with having a trade. We want to make sure that our vocational schools are equipped to work with businesses for the future to make sure that they have the employees that they want.

https://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/politics/106435-new-jersey-needs-more-workers-with-voc-tech-training

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Most DC wage-hike backers don’t even pay their interns

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Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) all do not pay interns but support the minimum wage photo of Cory Booker by Boyd Loving 

By Jonathon Trugman

August 12, 2017 | 10:53pm

One of the most valuable things a college student can do is complement his or her education with a summer internship.

Across America, kids from all schools and backgrounds compete for these experiences and résumé-building opportunities.

For many, it is their first real job and a chance make a little money. It could also be their first experience in a professional work environment.

You wouldn’t know it, but one of the least rewarding places to intern over the summer is on Capitol Hill.

https://nypost.com/2017/08/12/most-dc-wage-hike-backers-dont-even-pay-their-interns/

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Towns where property taxes hurt the most in each of N.J.’s 21 counties

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file photo by Boyd Loving

Updated July 18, 2017
Posted July 18, 2017

By Samantha Marcus | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

So where in your county do property taxes hurt the most?

Last month, we showed you which towns in New Jersey had the highest property tax burdens, which is to say, those where the average property tax bill takes up the biggest share of median household income.

Here, we pulled out the top towns from each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

New Jersey has the nation’s highest property taxes, but it’s much worse in some parts of the state than others. For example, Cumberland’s pain index is far lower than other counties. Top towns in eight counties did not crack our top 30 list for property tax pain.

Some of the state’s 565 municipalities were excluded from our analysis, as the median income margin of error was too high because of the American Community Survey’s small sample size.

Here’s the county-by-county list.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/07/highest_property_tax_burdens_in_all_21_counties.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home_pop

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50 Top Ranked Colleges That Pay Off the Least

RHS 2017

By Charles Stockdale July 13, 2017 8:26 pm EDT

For a special few Americans, such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg, completing college was unnecessary — perhaps even a hindrance — to their vision and success. Most people, however, consider college to be fundamental to achieving their goals and doing well in life

In fact, the number of people attending degree-granting postsecondary institutions has grown to 17 million – a 30% increase since 2000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Not all college degrees translate to financial success, however. In addition to nearly 70% of students graduating with debt in recent years, many graduates of even the country’s top-ranked schools are earning comparatively low salaries in the working world.

The average median salary for graduates who completed a four-year degree at one of the 206 schools the U.S. News & World Report considers to be the best national universities and national liberal arts colleges is nearly $54,000 a decade after graduating. Graduates from the 50 schools that produce the highest earners bring in nearly $70,000 on average.

On the other end of the spectrum, graduates from 84 schools report a median annual earnings of less than $50,000 a decade after entering school. Graduates from 15 schools report median earnings of less than $40,000 a year, and graduates from three less than $30,000.

In addition to being unable to promise high wages for students later in life, many colleges frequently increase tuition. Barely two decades ago, average tuition for a four-year private college or university was less than $15,000. Today, nearly three-quarters of the top ranked schools charged over $40,000 in tuition and fees in the 2016-2017 school year. This includes 33 of the schools that produced the lowest-earning graduates.

Click here to see the top ranked colleges that pay off the least.
Click here to see our detailed findings and methodology.

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Working Past 70: Americans Can’t Seem to Retire

seniors working artchick

file photo by ArtChick

U.S. seniors are employed at the highest rates in 55 years.
By
Ben Steverman
July 10, 2017, 4:00 AM EDT

More and more Americans are spending their golden years on the job.

Almost 19 percent of people 65 or older were working at least part-time in the second quarter of 2017, according to the U.S. jobs report released on Friday. The age group’s employment/population ratio hasn’t been higher in 55 years, before American retirees won better health care and Social Security benefits starting in the late 1960s.

And the trend looks likely to continue. Millennials, prepare yourselves. Better yet, consider this and this, so you have a choice in the matter when your time comes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-10/working-past-70-americans-can-t-seem-to-retire

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Solution to NYC’s commuter hell could ruin real estate developers

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By John Crudele

June 28, 2017 | 10:48pm

Commuters coming into New York City from the north, south, east and west are irate.

The Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and Metro North — not to mention the New York City subway, which moves 5.7 million people every weekday — have all been plagued by dramatic breakdowns and crashes over the past few months.

And as angry as all those commuters are, there is another group of people who should be even more livid — only they don’t know it yet.

That group consists of real estate developers and New York City building owners. And I will give you my prediction of what will happen if the commuting nightmare isn’t straightened out very soon.

As I type this column on Wednesday afternoon, there are 387 new buildings under construction in Manhattan. According to the New York City Department of Buildings, that will add 95.7 million square feet of new space to Manhattan’s already massive real estate inventory.

When you include construction in the Bronx (380 buildings), Brooklyn (1,625 buildings), Queens (1,251 buildings) and Staten Island (713 buildings), the city as a whole will add 225.6 million square feet of new space.

So how is this real estate boom connected with the problems commuters are having? Easy, the attractiveness of telecommuting is going to increase.

https://nypost.com/2017/06/28/solution-to-nycs-commuter-hell-could-ruin-real-estate-developers/

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A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals

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By Max Ehrenfreund June 26

When Seattle officials voted three years ago to incrementally boost the city’s minimum wage up to $15 an hour, they’d hoped to improve the lives of low-income workers. Yet according to a major new study that could force economists to reassess past research on the issue, the hike has had the opposite effect.

The city is gradually increasing the hourly minimum to $15 over several years. Already, though, some employers have not been able to afford the increased minimums. They’ve cut their payrolls, putting off new hiring, reducing hours or letting their workers go, the study found.

The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one, according to the study, conducted by a group of economists at the University of Washington who were commissioned by the city. The study, published as a working paper Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, has not yet been peer reviewed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/26/new-study-casts-doubt-on-whether-a-15-minimum-wage-really-helps-workers/?utm_term=.ae22e00b1144

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BUSINESS LEADERS MEH ABOUT NJ’S PROSPECTS BUT OPTIMISTIC FOR NATIONAL ECONOMY

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JOHN REITMEYER | JUNE 28, 2017

Executives are perturbed about New Jersey’s high taxes and the state government’s approach to business

New Jersey’s top business leaders are optimistic about the direction that the national economy is heading in this year, but as the state gets ready to elect a new governor, they are more cautious about New Jersey’s own immediate economic future.

The results of a new survey released yesterday by Rutgers University’s Real Estate and Policy Research Consortium revealed that enthusiasm among the state’s top business leaders has returned to the levels measured before the onset of the Great Recession in 2007, with 60 percent expecting some improvement in the national economy over the next 12 months.

At the same time, the survey found the executives still have concerns about New Jersey’s high taxes and state government’s handling of business policies, with nearly 50 percent saying they expect the state’s economic conditions to only remain about the same over the next year.

The results of the survey, outlined yesterday during a conference held at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy in New Brunswick, emerge as New Jersey remains locked in a pattern of slow growth in the wake of the recession, which officially ended in 2009. New Jersey only recently added back all of the private-sector jobs that were lost to the recession as the annual rate of growth here has trailed that of the national economy, while the federal job losses were all recovered in 2014.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/06/27/business-leaders-optimistic-for-national-economy-but-meh-about-new-jersey-s-prospects/

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An average N.J. resident needs to make this much to afford a 2-bedroom apartment

CBD high density housing

Updated on June 9, 2017 at 4:54 PMPosted on June 9, 2017 at 10:07 AM

BY JEFF GOLDMAN

[email protected],

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

As expensive as it is to live in New Jersey, the cost to rent an apartment here isn’t close to being the priciest in the nation.

Renters in the Garden State — where the fair-market rate for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,420 per month — pay the seventh most in the country, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Hawaii, Washington D.C. and California are the most expensive. Those three are followed by Maryland, New York and Massachusetts.

So while renting in New Jersey is cheaper than a handful of spots, it still requires more money than most make.

In a state where the minimum wage is $8.44 an hour and the average person makes $17.86 per hour, a New Jersey worker needs to be paid $27.31 an hour to reasonably afford a two-bedroom apartment. The report defines “afford” as spending no more than 30 percent of your gross income on rent.

That translates to an annual salary of $56,810 per year. To live in a one-bedroom apartment, you need to make $46,619 per year on average.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/a_typical_nj_resident_needs_to_make_this_much_to_a.html#incart_river_home

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Move over, millennials: NJ businesses looking at undefined ‘Generation Z’

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file photo RHS

By Dino Flammia June 8, 2017 2:23 AM

Centennials. iGen. The Founders.

Any name you choose, the generation following millennials remains a mystery to those who will end up being their bosses.

But the oldest segment of Generation Z — somewhere in the age range of 17 to 21 years old — is hitting the workforce in the fashion of full-time employment and internships. Businesses and trend followers hope to get a better feel for what they’re all about.

“We don’t fully know their generational essence,” said James Hughes, an economist and demographer at Rutgers University. “We don’t have a good handle on them yet because we don’t have much experience dealing with them.”

Hughes said the post-millennial generation has been examined in several marketing studies, but they have not been the subject of true academic research.

“You can say they’re a connected generation. More than any other generation, their smartphone is their tie to everything else. They’re certainly technologically savvy, even more so than millennials,” Hughes said.

Read More: Move over, millennials: NJ businesses looking at undefined ‘Generation Z’ | https://nj1015.com/move-over-millennials-nj-businesses-looking-at-undefined-generation-z/?trackback=tsmclip