NJ economic growth rate at 5 year low

From the AP via the Morris Daily Record:

NJ economic growth rate lowest in 5 years

Economic growth in New Jersey has declined to its slowest rate in nearly five years, hobbled by increasing initial unemployment claims and falling housing permits, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported today.

The regional bank's latest monthly forecast projected modest economic growth of 0.6 percent through the spring.

The nine-month growth rate has not been so low since 0.4 percent was projected in November 2001, when the economy was emerging from a recession but still reeling from the terrorist attacks two months earlier.

The bank's nine-month forecasts, issued each month, have been steadily declining since a 2.5 percent projection in January.

"This is certainly consistent with the employment growth data that we've seen in New Jersey. We've had a pretty dramatic decline in private-sector job growth in the state," said James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
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"Corporate America is not about to pack its bags and leave this state," he said. "But when it has decisions about where to expand, New Jersey is not on the radar screen," he said.

New Jersey is on pace to add about 34,000 jobs this year, less than half the 75,000 it should, and over one-third of the new jobs are in government even though that sector accounts for less than one-fifth of all jobs, Hughes said.

The diminished growth rate indicates that New Jersey's economy is slowing along with the national economy, said economist Ted Crone, a vice president at the Philadelphia Reserve.