'09
By jennifer Wilck
With the economy plummeting, what can New Jersey businesses take away from 2008 and where do they go from here? Recruiters have a unique perspective, since they are the ones who see hiring trends firsthand.
“It’s no secret that New Jersey unemployment has spiked dramatically, although it’s still below the national average,” says Thomas J. Fuller, general managing partner at Epsen Fuller/IMD International Search Group in Morristown. “In New Jersey specifically, we are, and will be, significantly harder hit in the financial sectors. There will be significant job losses in that sector and that will continue in 2009.”
According to the Governance Group, the hardest hit areas are along the Hudson River and are driven by the financial services crisis. “Unemployment rates are going up in most parts of the state,” says Steve Schrenzel, managing director of the Governance Group, a human capital experts firm in Summit. “A few counties—Atlantic, Ocean, and Salem—appear to be relatively minimally impacted on a seasonally adjusted basis. Hudson is probably over 7 percent and may be up by more than 20 percent since the end of August. Bergen and Essex are clearly up by over 20 percent year-to-date. This appears to be relatively consistent with previous recessionary periods.”
Fuller says New Jersey’s reputation is partly to blame. “We’re in difficult economic times, coupled by the fact that this state is difficult to do business in,” Fuller says. “We are losing jobs to other states, not to unemployment. I know that our exorbitant property tax, income tax, our home prices, and rigorous regulatory environment lead to a difficult business climate that is very tough.”
Many sectors are feeling the pinch, especially retail and those directly linked to the retail industry. The Governance Group says unemployment in New Jersey and New York increased by 5.8 percent through October, which is in the middle of the national range. Unemployment rates in New Jersey localities are influenced, to some extent, by New York commuters. And, if major retailers take a hit, New Jersey will be impacted due to the shipping, distribution, and transportation associated with moving goods from the ports to the retailers. As more major retailers close their stores, Northern and Southern New Jersey will be hurt.
While the pharmaceutical and chemical industries have faced modest problems, the big financial giants are disproportionately impacting northern counties, says the Governance Group. In addition, construction and automotive, including automotive distribution, have been badly hit. Governance is keeping a close eye on real estate brokers as virtually all large commercial firms do some fine tuning.
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