#47 New Jersey
#42 in Taxation and Regulation
#40 in Workforce Quality
#48 in Living Environment
Right to Work? ✗
Regional Profile – Northeast
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Key Industries
Biotech, Clean Energy, Manufacturing
Key Companies
Campbell Soup
Chubb & Sons
Honeywell International
Johnson & Johnson
Lucent Technologies
Medco Health Solutions
Merck & Co.
Prudential Financial
Quest Diagnostics
Advantages
Northern New Jersey’s economic mainstays—telecom, professional services, pharmaceutical research and manufacturing—show moderate growth, while education and healthcare outpace the nation. Moderate job expansion has bolstered consumer spending, aiding the retail, entertainment and hospitality sectors.
JPMorgan Chase’s decision to relocate to Jersey City from Manhattan yielded 2,100 jobs—and a jolt of optimism at a time when most corporate traffic was heading out of state.
Challenges
New Jersey is “hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, and is one of just two states to levy both an inheritance tax and an estate tax, and maintains some of the worst-structured individual income taxes in the country, according to the Tax Foundation.
New Jersey needs an aggressive tourism strategy to prevent its tourism revenue from fading away.
Key Contacts
Economic Development Authority
Melissa Orsen, Chief Executive Officer
866-534-7789
36 West State Street,
Trenton, NJ 08625
CustomerCare@njeda.com
http://www.njeda.com/
CEO Comments
“New Jersey is dying. The infrastructure is crumbling, smart young people go out of state for college and don’t return, taxes are out of control. Chris Christie turned out to be completely incompetent.”
“New Jersey is strangled by poor government, poor mass transit, ridiculous taxes and housing costs. $60,000 a year is the absolute minimum a person can live on, so payroll costs are exorbitant.”
“The state is so unattractive to business that the smart kids leave for college and never come back (opportunity is elsewhere), making the talent pool older and more expensive than it should be.”
Current Developments
Regional Report: Northeast 2016
March 18, 2016
New Jersey Wins Quest Diagnostics Business with $18.5M in Incentives