Michele Siekerka President & CEO New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA)
What is the importance of NJBIA to the New Jersey business community? NJBIA has been around for 112 years and we are the largest statewide employer association in the nation. We’re predominantly small-business-driven in our membership but also support large businesses and corporations. Our membership reflects the business makeup of New Jersey. I like to say we represent everyone from the corner pizzeria to the thousand-employee call center to the biggest utilities, healthcare systems and insurers across the state of New Jersey.
discrepancy is less pronounced within other job roles. New Jersey’s unemployment rate as of May 2021 was 7.2%, the seventh-highest in the country. As of April, the state had regained about 54% of the jobs lost during the pandemic, although the hospitality industry is lagging behind. Atlantic County’s convention and casino establishments were only given the green light to operate at full capacity in May 2021, and there has been just a 55% recovery in hospitality jobs compared with the national average of 61%. In fact, the Atlantic City-Hammonton metro area has been in the Top 3 metro areas in the nation for unemployment rates and increases in unemployment during the pandemic. But unemployment could be more nuanced than directly linked to the state of the economy, experts indicate. While many workers remain vigilant about the potential spread of COVID despite the progress of the vaccine program, and others have family obligations that prevent them from seeking work, some are taking advantage of the generous unemployment benefits
Where is the potential for South Jersey’s economy? The beauty of the state of New Jersey is that we are between two major metros. This has its pros and cons. We can get swallowed up by those metros or we can capitalize on them. I think that Camden County continues to capitalize on the Philadelphia metro. There have been great opportunities created for the next generation of workers, housing and true economic development. We see this happening in the Atlantic City region as well, where you have investment being made to create ecosystems that tie together the idea of jobs, environment and people — true sustainable communities. North Jersey is completely built out, but South Jersey has the opportunity to continue to connect and build. We must strategically create ecosystems around hubs and focus on the developments that will form the right housing and job opportunities to create those ecosystems in South Jersey. What is your outlook for South Jersey? I believe this will be a slow but steady recovery. The consumer is ready to spend money. The mean income in the state of New Jersey actually went up during the pandemic, as a result of federal stimulus programs. We need to get this money spent, but it can only be spent if businesses are able to meet demand. It has been exciting to see South Jersey’s growth over the past five to 10 years and there continues to be extraordinary opportunities.
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| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY
Atlantic City has the largest boardwalk in the world.
