Tag: Jobs

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New Jersey start-up funding continues to drop

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New Jersey start-up funding continues to drop

APRIL 19, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY ANDREW WYRICH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

* Nationwide flow of venture capital isn’t washing ashore here

A new report on Friday said funding for start-ups in New Jersey dropped sharply in the first quarter, falling 78 percent from the period a year ago and continuing a trend that began in the second quarter last year.

In contrast, funding for start-ups nationally reached levels not seen since 2001.

According to a MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, investors funneled $19.6 million in funding to five New Jersey companies in the first three months of this year, down from more than $80.2 million that went to eight companies in the 2013 quarter.

Two North Jersey companies were among the five that received funding. The Clifton-based software maker Caktus Inc., which designs software that tracks a person’s water intake, received seed funding. LiveU Ltd. of Hackensack, which develops technology for live broadcasting, received later-stage funding. The amount invested into both companies was not disclosed in the report.

“The $19.6 million invested is the lowest quarter in MoneyTree Report history, and the funding in New Jersey continues to trend downward in recent quarters,” Brett Harrington, a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers Emerging Companies Services, said in a statement. “Hopefully, the overall increase that has been seen nationally will positively impact New Jersey in Q2.”

Yearlong slide

The money venture capitalists invested in New Jersey-based start-ups and the number of companies that got funding have declined steadily since the second quarter of 2013. In the third quarter last year, the roughly $20 million invested in 11 companies was the lowest amount invested in New Jersey in 15 years, according to the report.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/tight-state-for-start-ups-1.999421#sthash.pQvL7Ybe.dpuf

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‘Ridiculous’: Administration punts on Keystone, Obama faces Dem revolt

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‘Ridiculous’: Administration punts on Keystone, Obama faces Dem revolt

The Obama administration once again has punted on a final decision for the Keystone XL pipeline, announcing ahead of the holiday weekend it is extending a key review period indefinitely — a move that could push off a determination until after the midterm elections.

Republicans, as well as red-state Democrats who want the proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline approved, slammed the administration for the delay. Democrats even threatened to find ways to go around the president to get the project approved.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that this well over five year long process is continuing for an undetermined amount of time,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said in a statement.

Republican Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry called the decision “shameful,” noting that another spring construction season will come and go without the project.

The administration had been in the middle of a 90-day review period for federal agencies assessing an environmental study from the State Department.

But the State Department said Friday it is giving agencies “additional time” to weigh in, in part because of ongoing litigation before the Nebraska Supreme Court which could affect the pipeline’s route. If the route changes, officials made clear the State Department reserves the right to conduct another environmental impact study to include more public comments, which could delay the process more.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/18/obama-administration-extends-review-period-for-keystone-xl-oil-pipeline/

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NJ lost 1,300 jobs in March; unemployment rate ticks up

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NJ lost 1,300 jobs in March; unemployment rate ticks up

The loss of 1,300 jobs in March puts New Jersey down 1,900 jobs for the year, as even traditionally strong sectors such as health and leisure lost ground.

The state lost 600 government jobs and 700 private jobs in March, the second monthly fall in a row for the private sector, according to the monthly employment report released Thursday by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Unemployment, which stood at 7.1 percent in January and February, rose to 7.2 percent in March – above the national rate of 6.7 percent, the department reported.

Adding to the bad news, revised numbers for February showed that employment in the state fell by 1,100 more jobs than first reported, losing 4,800 instead of the previously announced 3,700 jobs.

“I think we sum up the report by saying that New Jersey’s labor market is going nowhere slowly,” said Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at the accounting firm CohnReznick. “Nothing stands out as a reason to be optimistic about where we are going.”

The 1,900 jobs so far this year is particularly weak compared to the 18,800 jobs added in the same period in 2013. New Jersey has recovered just 93,000, or 36 percent, of the 258,000 jobs lost in the recession and its aftermath.

In comparison, New York has recovered all of the 330,000 jobs it lost in the period and added about 164,000. Connecticut has regained about half of the 119,100 jobs lost. As of March the U.S. had recovered all the private sector jobs it lost.  (Morley/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-lost-1-300-jobs-in-march-unemployment-rate-ticks-up-1.998386#sthash.sGaXJkCr.dpuf

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Obamanomics: 86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers

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Obamanomics :86M Full-Time Private-Sector Workers Sustain 148M Benefit Takers

April 16, 2014 – 5:04 AM

Buried deep on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau is a number every American citizen, and especially those entrusted with public office, should know. It is 86,429,000.

That is the number of Americans who in 2012 got up every morning and went to work — in the private sector — and did it week after week after week.

These are the people who built America, and these are the people who can sustain it as a free country. The liberal media have not made them famous like the polar bear, but they are truly a threatened species.

It is not a rancher with a few hundred head of cattle that is attacking their habitat, nor an energy company developing a fossil fuel. It is big government and its primary weapon — an ever-expanding welfare state.

First, let’s look at the basic taxonomy of the full-time, year-round American worker.

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/86m-full-time-private-sector-workers-sustain-148m-benefit-takers

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Reader says The taxes and mandates placed upon private enterprise make doing business in NJ uncompetitive with other states

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Reader says The taxes and mandates placed upon private enterprise make doing business in NJ uncompetitive with other states

As a business owner in the private sector, let me add to it from that perspective.

The taxes and mandates placed upon private enterprise make doing business in NJ uncompetitive with other states.

The foolish Democrats that control Trenton kill the economy here every time they pass another law with the stroke of a pen.

Nobody ‘mandates’ that private enterprise make a profit (which is taxed), yet the morons who are elected from the big cities (Newark, Camden, Paterson etc) that milk the funds from the state treasury continue to pass rules that hurt businesses.

Many businesses will never expand here, and move new operations to more ‘tax friendly’/’regulation friendly’ states.

No large business would ever consider moving here.

The state is broke due to ‘obligations’ to the unions as mentioned in the previous post.
Further draining the state treasury are the billions of dollars that get flushed down the toilet in the “Abbot’ school districts (thanks to the left wing activist NJ supreme court).
It should come as no surprise that the ‘big earners’ make sure they do their ‘time’ out of state….spend 181 days per year in FLA and vote there… so NJ can no longer pick their pockets… and the rest of us will have to make up the difference in higher taxes..
Try to explain logic such as that to the Dumbocrats in Trenton… good luck.

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Newark-based Star-Ledger newspaper cutting 167 jobs

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photo by Boyd Loving

Newark-based Star-Ledger newspaper cutting 167 jobs

 

The Star-Ledger’s announcement of 167 job cuts — among 306 layoffs made by owner Advance Publications Inc. Thursday — reflect long-running troubles at the state’s largest newspaper, which has felt the impact of a nationwide drop in newspaper readership and advertising revenue.

 

Thursday’s cuts are the latest in a series of layoffs and buyouts since 2008 at the Newark paper, a New Jersey institution that has won three Pulitzer Prizes but lost millions of dollars in recent years. The cuts include 40 jobs in the newsroom, which is not unionized, bringing it to a staff of about 116, down from a high of 350 before the first buyout in 2008.

 

In addition to the Star-Ledger cuts, 124 full and part-time jobs were eliminated at other daily and weekly papers owned by Advance Publications Inc., in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and 15 at the company’s web site, NJ.com.

 

The layoffs are part of a plan announced last week by Advance to create a new company, NJ Advance Media, based in Woodbridge, to provide advertising, marketing and news content to The Star-Ledger, the three other daily papers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and NJ.com. The company plans to focus on efforts to grow its digital operations.

 

Star-Ledger employees were called in Thursday for one-on-one meetings, where they were either told they were being let go or offered a job with the new company. The new jobs, in some cases, carried salaries more than 5 percent lower, along with reduced benefits, according to employees who asked not to be identified. According to the newspaper, the cuts included the entire full-time business staff and positions in sports, features, photos and news. (Lynn/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/newark-based-star-ledger-newspaper-cutting-167-jobs-1.841027#sthash.hQygskuL.dpuf

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The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?

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The Unemployment Puzzle: Where Have All the Workers Gone?

The U.S. unemployment rate is down, but rising numbers of Americans have dropped out of the labor force entirely

A big puzzle looms over the U.S. economy: Friday’s jobs report tells us that the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7% from a peak of 10% at the height of the Great Recession. But at the same time, only 63.2% of Americans 16 or older are participating in the labor force, which, while up a bit in March, is down substantially since 2000. As recently as the late 1990s, the U.S. was a nation in which employment, job creation and labor force participation went hand in hand. That is no longer the case.

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What’s going on? Think of the labor market as a spring bash you’ve been throwing with great success for many years. You’ve sent out the invitations again, but this time the response is much less enthusiastic than at the same point in previous years.

One possibility is that you just need to beat the bushes more, using reminders of past fun as “stimulus” to get people’s attention. Another possibility is that interest has shifted away from your big party to other activities.

Economists are sorting out which of these scenarios best explains the slack numbers on labor-force participation—and offers the best hope of reversing them. Is the problem cyclical, so that, if we push for faster growth, workers will come back, as they have in the past with upturns in the business cycle? Or do deeper structural problems in the economy have to be fixed before we can expect any real progress? To the extent that problems are related to retirement or work disincentives that are either hard to change or created by policy, familiar monetary or fiscal policies may have little effect—a point getting too little attention in Washington.

https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304441304579477341062142388?mod=WSJ_hppMIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304441304579477341062142388.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_hppMIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

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‘Fragile’ Port Newark/Elizabeth weighs on N.J. economy

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‘Fragile’ Port Newark/Elizabeth weighs on N.J. economy

MARCH 27, 2014    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014, 12:28 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

When the movement of cargo through the shipping terminals in Port Newark/Elizabeth seized up this winter, causing long truck lines that nearly spilled onto the New Jersey Turnpike, people at the port started pointing fingers. Truckers said the longshoremen were lazy. Longshoremen accused the truckers of being disorganized.

And everyone blamed the weather. This past winter’s snowfall “is the root cause of the delays,” said John Nardi, president of the New York Shipping Association.

But a closer look shows that crises at Port Newark/Elizabeth, often called simply Port Newark, are increasingly common and stem from a complex mix of factors, including manpower problems, antiquated procedures and turf battles. The port has closed or nearly closed four times in the last 15 months, twice when the weather was not in play.

“This port is fragile,” said Rick Larrabee, director of port commerce for the Port Authority.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/fragile-port-newark-elizabeth-weighs-on-n-j-economy-1.751687#sthash.nh78g5FO.dpuf

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NJ to Veterans: go find work somewhere else

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NJ to Veterans: go find work somewhere else

New Jersey’s veterans had an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent in 2013, the highest of all 50 states, according to new data released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor. (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/vet.pdf)

New Jersey’s 10.8 percent veterans’ unemployment rate is a significant increase from 2012’s rate of 10 percent and far higher than the national rate of 6.6 percent, and much higher than the rates in neighboring states like Pennsylvania (7.7 percent) and New York (8.2 percent). It is also a much higher rate than New Jersey’s 2013 unemployment rate for non-veterans (7.8 percent).

“New Jersey is in the unenviable position of adding another ‘first in the nation’ milestone: first in foreclosures, first in its percentage of jobless out of work for more than six months, and, now, first in the rate of unemployed veterans,” said Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective. “This should be enough to halt the administration’s boastful claims that its singular focus on tax cuts and incentives for large corporations is working for the rest of us.” (PolitickerNJ)

NJ to veterans: go find work somewhere else | Politicker NJ

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NJ CRONY CAPITALISTS PUT THE BRAKES ON TESLA

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NJ CRONY CAPITALISTS PUT THE BRAKES ON TESLA
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New Jersey: The Latest State to Quash Tesla Sales

March 12, 2014 at 11:20:00 AM by Andrew Moseman
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/new-jersey-the-latest-state-to-try-to-stop-tesla-sales-16585709?click=pm_lates

Today, it’s New Jersey that wants to ban auto manufacturers from selling cars directly to consumers, a move that appears aimed at Tesla and its no-dealership model.

The last time we reported from the Tesla wars, it was Ohio that was considering the same type of ban, with the statehouse under pressure from influential local dealerships to quash Tesla’s way of doing business. This week, while Tesla reps are in the Buckeye State working out a compromise, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is threatening to cut off the EV maker.

A spokesperson for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told Bloomberg:

“Since Tesla first began operating in New Jersey one year ago, it was made clear that the company would need to engage the Legislature on a bill to establish their new direct-sales operations under New Jersey law. This administration does not find it appropriate to unilaterally change the way cars are sold in New Jersey without legislation and Tesla has been aware of this position since the beginning.”

Tesla’s response:

That’s exactly what we were doing, New Jersey. Elon Musk’s company responded with a blog post today saying that it was happy to work out a solution in the New Jersey legislature, but that Christie “has gone back on its word to delay a proposed anti-Tesla regulation so that the matter could be handled through a fair process in the Legislature.”

If you haven’t been following Tesla’s state-by-state legal maneuverings, the crux of the matter is that the company doesn’t want to sell its EVs through a locally owned dealership, the way you’d buy a Ford, Chevy, or just about any other new car. But those local dealerships have every incentive in the world to stop direct-to-consumer sales from spreading, which is why they’re flexing so much political muscle over a relatively tiny number of cars that Tesla sells. So far only Texas and Arizona have laws on the books to stop Tesla’s method, but several others have discussed it. New Jersey’s new rules would go into effect April 1.

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Job Seekers Swarm Marijuana Job Fair As Colorado’s Green Rush Continues

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Job Seekers Swarm Marijuana Job Fair As Colorado’s Green Rush Continues
March 14, 2014 9:37 AM

DENVER (CBS4) – If there was any doubt that the “green rush” is on in Colorado, the scene outside a marijuana industry career fair in Denver on Thursday looked like a throwback to the Great Recession.

Thousands of people waited for hours with resumes in hand in a line that stretched several blocks. TheO.penVAPE Cannabis Job Fair featured 15 different businesses associated with recreational marijuana sales, and it had turn people away by the day’s end.

St. Louis resident Shannon Irvin has been jobless for several months. He drove to Colorado for the fair with hopes of breaking into the state’s budding industry and wound up waiting in line for 2 hours.

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/03/14/job-seekers-swarm-marijuana-job-fair-as-colorados-green-rush-continues/

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Data shows millions of Americans falling out of the workforce

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Data shows millions of Americans falling out of the workforce

The number of native-born, working-age Americans who aren’t working has shot up by almost 9 million since 2007, and by almost 15 million since 2000, according to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors reduced immigration.

By late 2012, roughly 50 million native-born working-age Americans weren’t working, up from 40 million in 2000, according to the March 13 report, titled “Still No Evidence of a Labor Shortage.”

The army of idle Americans is important for the immigration debate, because advocates for greater immigration say foreign workers are needed to fill slots that can’t be taken by Americans.

Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2014/03/13/data-shows-millions-of-americans-falling-out-of-the-workforce/#ixzz2vy0WdY2Y

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Tesla Stores May Be Closed After N.J. Blocks Direct Sales

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Tesla Stores May Be Closed After N.J. Blocks Direct Sales

Governor Chris Christie’s administration blocked Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), the electric-car maker that doesn’t have franchised retail dealers, from direct auto sales in a move the company said could shutter its only two stores in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, which includes members of Christie’s cabinet, unanimously approved the proposal yesterday in Trenton, delaying public comment on the matter until after the hearing. Tesla said it learned only a day earlier, after months of negotiations, that the rule change was coming to the most densely populated U.S. state, which is important for reaching customers in the New York metro area.

Christie “has gone back on his word,” Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Twitter prior to the vote. “His administration, under pressure from auto dealers, may shut down Tesla in NJ as soon as today.”

Tesla is battling dealers state by state to secure or protect the right to sell its cars directly to consumers. Auto dealers in Ohio, New York, Minnesota,Georgia and elsewhere in the past year have sought to block Tesla from directly retailing its models, arguing that independent retailers are better for shoppers and owners of vehicles. Texas dealers successfully backed a law setting the nation’s toughest restrictions on Tesla. Arizona, Colorado andVirginia also imposed limits. (Ohnsman and Dopp/Bloomberg)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-11/tesla-stores-may-be-closed-after-n-j-blocks-direct-sales.html

 

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Labor Force Participation Hits Record Low for Americans in Their 20s

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Labor Force Participation Hits Record Low for Americans in Their 20s
March 11, 2014 – 11:09 AM
By Ali Meyer

(CNSNews.com) – The labor force participation rate in 2013 for Americans in their twenties hit the lowest level recorded since 1981, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started releasing employment data on people in the full age bracket of 20 through 29.

The labor force participation rate for people ages 20 through 24—which BLS has been tracking since 1948—hit a 42-year low in 2013.

Since 2008, the last year before President Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans in their twenties who were not in the labor force during the average month has climbed from 8,756,000 to 10,511,000—an increase of 1,755,000 or 20 percent.

– See more at: https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/labor-force-participation-hits-record-low-americans-their-20s#sthash.HnTO2vDq.dpuf

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Union: Obamacare will slash wages by up to $5 an hour

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Union: Obamacare will slash wages by up to $5 an hour

By Paul Bedard | MARCH 9, 2014 AT 11:15 AM

A national union that represents 300,000 low-wage hospitality workers charges in a new report that Obamacare will slam wages, cut hours, limit access to health insurance and worsen the very “income equality” President Obama says he is campaigning to fix.

Unite Here warned that due to Obamacare’s much higher costs for health insurance than what union workers currently pay, the result will be a pay cut of up to $5 an hour. “If employers follow the incentives in the law, they will push families onto the exchanges to buy coverage. This will force low-wage service industry employees to spend $2.00, $3.00 or even $5.00 an hour of their pay to buy similar coverage,” said the union in a new report.

“Only in Washington could asking the bottom of the middle class to finance health care for the poorest families be seen as reducing inequality,” said the report from Unite Here. “Without smart fixes, the ACA threatens the middle class with higher premiums, loss of hours, and a shift to part-time work and less comprehensive coverage,” said the report, titled, “The Irony of Obamacare: Making Inequality Worse.”

https://washingtonexaminer.com/big-labor-obamacare-death-spiral-to-worker-pay-insurance-coverage/article/2545310