Despite some signs of an economic recovery, Atlantic City and New Jersey as a whole, are still experiencing increasing unemployment.  The drop in gross operating profit for these large Atlantic City employers won’t do anything to taper that trend.

Increases will vary from business to business and are wide ranging (from $7.00 to $290.00 per worker) depending on the number of layoffs at the company and the amount of unemployment insurance tax paid in the past.

The amount that a business pays in unemployment insurance is calculated by taking the average amount of UI paid to former workers over the past 3 years and dividing it by the the total payroll.  The second consideration in UI taxes due is the balance of reserves that New Jersey has as of March 31st.

The protest was organized by the young UAW/AC Union and its members to protest the slow negotiations they are experiencing with Atlantic City casino management.

Many workers from Atlantic City’s largest casinos including Trump Casino, Bally’s and Caesars Palace are still working without a contract despite the fact that they had voted for union representation from the UAW.

Organized by UAW Union representatives, the protest, which snarled traffic on Pacific Avenue for a time, was meant to call attention to the fact that many workers from Bally’s, Caesars, Tropicana and Trump Casino do not have a contract, despite voting for union representation in 2007.

The management at Harrah’s Casino in Atlantic City released a statement on Tuesday evening “…We have been bargaining in good faith for more than 50 sessions in an effort to negotiate a reasonable contract that allows the company to remain competitive in this challenging economic and competitive environment…”

New Jersey will experience some of GM’s pain when the company close up to 33 dealerships in the state.

A document provided by General Motors to the House Energy and Commerce commitee details the planned closings.  New Jersey appears to comprise 2.5% of the total dealership closings General Motors plans for the entire country.

The document considered four criteria in the decision whether to close a dealership:

• sales
• customer satisfaction
• capitalization
• profitability

The document stated that dealerships that will be closed will have 16 months to close down their operations.

Auto dealerships in New Jersey provide a significant amount of employment, totaling greater than 55,000 jobs in a 2008 study.

This is concerning to those seeking jobs in the Camden area “It’s depressing,” said one job hunter at the Camden County One-Stop Career Center. “A lot of companies could use my services, it’s just getting the interviews.”

The concentration of many people in one urban area will usually exceed the state average, and it appears that New Jersey is no different.

The latest unemployment numbers for New Jersey urban areas:

• 9.6 percent in Jersey City
• 12.7 percent in Newark
• 14.2 percent in Atlantic City
• 15.9 percent in Paterson.
• 17.5 percent in Trenton

Joseph Seneca, an economics professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick cited that manufacturing jobs have declined 35 percent in the past decade, more than any other sector.

The manufacturing sector represented 421,900 jobs in 1999, which was 10.7 percent of all employment in the state of New Jersey. In March of 2009, Seneca points out the number has been reduced to 273,200 jobs representing just under 7 percent of all employment.

Camden County was a part of the overall loss in manufacturing jobs,  cutting 1,802 manufacturing jobs. This represents a 10 percent decline.

Gerdau Ameristeel Corporation, based out of Tampa, will shutter its plants in Sayreville and Perth Amboy due to a continuous decline in demand for steel.

According to company spokesman Santiago Fittipaldi, the Perth Amboy plant will not reopen.

The Perth Amboy plant was first operated in the early 20th century, originally producing copper as the Raritan Copper Works. With no plans to reopen the plant, it seems that Gerdau will be looking to sell the facility.

Michael Keller, director of economic and community development for the city of Perth Amboy, believes the site has potential future use. “It’s a waterfront facility, it’s got rail. I think the site will be very marketable,” Keller said.

Gerdau Ameristeel is also considering plant closures in Oklahoma. The company operates 19 plants across North America.

NEW MISERY INDEX COMBINES THE STATE’S GROWING DEBT, BUDGET, TAX AND UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS

The New Jersey Taxpayers Association recently unveiled a new metric to measure the economic status of the state of New Jersey, The Misery Index.

The metric measures aggregates several measures, as they affect citizens of New Jersey into one metric.

The measures include:

• Tax burden
• Debt
• Spending
• Unemployment