NJBIA has published its 66th annual Business Outlook Survey, which highlights New Jersey's competitive levels and economic outlooks for the upcoming year. Released on December 2, the survey draws attention to various facets of the state's business environment.
In terms of competitive advantages, "46% rate the quality of New Jersey public schools to be better than other states." Additionally, "26% said New Jersey does better than other states" in protecting the environment, marking a slight improvement from last year. The quality of New Jersey's workforce was also rated positively by "28%" compared to other states.
Despite these positives, New Jersey faces challenges in areas closely related to business operations. A significant "85%" consider the state worse than others regarding taxes and fees, with "70%" expressing similar views on controlling government spending. Other areas where New Jersey is perceived as lacking include healthcare costs (63%), labor costs (63%), attracting new business (61%), attitude toward business (57%), and regulatory compliance costs (55%).
The economic outlook for both New Jersey and the nation shows signs of optimism compared to previous years. While "37%" rated New Jersey’s economy as fair, there was an increase in those rating it poor at "31%," up by 13 percentage points from last year. Conversely, "28%" considered the state economy good and only "4%" deemed it excellent.
Looking ahead to early 2025, "23% said it would be better," an improvement from last year's outlook when only 14% shared this sentiment. Furthermore, fewer respondents ("26%") expect a worsening economic situation in the first half of 2025 compared to a year ago when 45% anticipated a decline.
Overall, there's a -3% net outlook for New Jersey's economy—an improvement over previous surveys which showed a -31% net negative outlook for 2024 and -36% for 2023. As for the national perspective, most respondents ("63%") described the US economy as either fair or poor.
