Economics Blogs & Reports
Assessing Equity in the Utilization of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding: Evidence from New Jersey and Beyond
By Pengju Zhang, Ph.D. and Michael S. Hayes, Ph.D. The American Rescue Plan Act's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ARPA-SLFRF) provides $350 billion to state and local governments, representing one of the largest [...]
Will the Nation’s Employment Growth Trajectory Follow New Jersey’s?
By Will Irving. In late July, the outlook for the U.S. economy appeared strong, with some observers suggesting that the Fed had indeed nailed the long-awaited soft-landing even in light of recent cooling [...]
Examining New Income Distribution Data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
By Will Irving The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently began publishing state-level data on the distribution of personal income across households. Similar income distribution and income inequality data has previously been [...]
Financial Literacy in New Jersey
By Parul Jain and Olusola Omotoso Broadly stated, financial literacy refers to the knowledge and skills necessary for making sound financial choices within a business context, which is deemed critical [...]
Report Release: R/ECON Forecast Summer 2024
By Will Irving Read Report R/ECON’s economic forecast for New Jersey as of June 2024 continues to show a slowing trajectory, though the decline in annual GDP growth is not as pronounced as [...]
Assessing Equity in the Utilization of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding: Evidence from New Jersey and Beyond
Pengju Zhang, Ph.D. & Michael S. Hayes, Ph.D. The American Rescue Plan Act's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ARPA-SLFRF) provides $350 billion to state and local governments [...]
Examining Industry Employment Growth in New Jersey
By Will Irving. Unpredictability has been one of the defining features of New Jersey’s labor market for much of the last two years. As the state’s unemployment rate climbed [...]
How New Jersey’s 2025 Tax Revenue Projections Might Affect the Budget Surplus
By Will Irving. Is the Budget Surplus Safe? Governor Murphy’s recently released FY 2025 budget proposal calls for total appropriations of $55.9 billion, up $1.5 billion (2.7%) from the original FY 2024 appropriation [...]
New Jersey Employment Concerns Revisited
By Will Irving. As 2024 began with yet another surprisingly strong jobs report for the U.S. (353,000 jobs added in January and the unemployment rate steady at 3.7%), and with a full year’s worth of 2023 state-level employment data now available [...]
New Jersey Population Growth Recovers
By Will Irving. The U.S. Census Bureau's annual state population estimates released this month show New Jersey resuming population growth after experiencing a decline of nearly 30,000 residents since the 2020 Decennial Census [...]
Is There Cause for Concern in New Jersey’s Latest Unemployment Numbers?
By Will Irving While New Jersey’s payroll employment has continued to grow this year after the rapid job gains of the post-pandemic recovery, a slower pace of growth in recent months and a sharp rise [...]
Report Release: Who Experienced the Greatest Financial Burden from Inflation in NJ?
By Jocelyn Fischer, Ph.D. and Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, Ph.D. During the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey has experienced record high levels of inflation. These price increases raise concerns about New Jerseyans’ financial well-being. However, inflation [...]
Report Release: R/ECON Forecast November 2023
By Will Irving. R/ECON’s economic forecast for New Jersey as of November 2023 shows slow or stagnant growth over the next five to six quarters, with GDP recovering to a steady but tepid rate of increase in 2025. This largely mirrors the U.S. trajectory [...]
New Jersey Ranks First in Income, but Housing Costs Take a Hefty Share Especially for those with Lower Incomes
By William Irving. Data released earlier this month from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey show that New Jersey now tops the list of states with the highest incomes in the country [...]
Data Brief Release: Inflation Hurts Everyone but Some More than Others in New Jersey
By Jocelyn Fischer and Yana van der Meulen Rodgers. Inflation levels in the U.S. have reached decades-long highs during the COVID-19 pandemic and in its wake. Because inflation can erode people’s ability to afford the goods and services they need, the recent uptick in inflation has raised concerns [...]
The Economic Issues Impacting College Enrollment
By James Barrett. As of May 2023, the National Student Clearinghouse published their annual Current Term Enrollment Estimates, painting a bleak picture of the state of college enrollment across the nation. Public two-year enrollments dropped 10.1% [...]
Food Insecurity in New Jersey – Policy Solutions and Improvements
By Ciera Gaither. The most recent Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS FSS) reported that 10.2% of American households are food insecure, impacting more than 30 million people. In comparison, 8% of New Jersey residents experienced food insecurity in 2020 [...]
Nearly Half of NJ Residents Struggled to Pay Household Expenses, New Jersey State Policy Lab Finds
By Megan McCue. More New Jerseyans are finding it difficult to pay for typical household expenses, according to a follow-up survey conducted by the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling. Five questions from the first survey, originally published in July 2022 [...]
Property Tax Rates and Quality of K-12 Education in New Jersey Communities
by James Barnett New Jersey is consistent in featuring at the top of the ranks for two different variables: effective real estate property tax rates and quality of K-12 education services.[1][2] These, unsurprisingly to most [...]
‘Tis the Season: An Inflationary Lamentation
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed, but all reports are not yet in. Adobe Analytics reports that online sales on Black Friday hit a new [...]
What’s a Fed to Do? The Potential Factors of a Recession, Part 2
By Michael L. Lahr. As detailed in our previous blog, there are several factors at play in the U.S. economy which may influence the likelihood of a recession. We discussed the Federal Reserve’s decision
What’s a Fed to Do? The Potential Factors of a Recession, Part 1
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™). It’s a tough time to be Jerome Powell. The Federal Reserve Board’s two primary responsibilities are to assure price stability and growth within the U.S. economy, and Jerome Powell is its Chair. As we are painfully aware, prices have been less than stable [...]
Report Release: What Influences Differences in New Jersey’s Municipal Tax Rates?
By Michael Lahr, Tia Azzi, and Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service. It is vital for New Jersey policymakers to understand what affects municipal tax rates. In this brief, we analyze local government spending [...]
Report Release: Does the Decision to Allow Local Cannabis-Related Businesses Impact Home Sale Prices?
By Michael S. Hayes, Associate Professor, Rutgers University-Camden and Prakash Kandel, Ph.D. Student, Rutgers University-Camden. During the 2020 general election, New Jersey voters approved a ballot question to amend the state constitution to allow residents [...]
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Poverty Rates in New Jersey, 2010-2020
by Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) To gain a clear understanding of racial and ethnic disparities related to poverty, it is most important to focus on the poverty rate rather than [...]
Housing Affordability in New Jersey, 2010-2020
by Maia de la Calle. Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) Housing affordability and ownership accessibility The main expense incurred by New Jersey’s residents is shelter or housing. As of 2019, New Jersey ranked third in [...]
What Types of New Jersey Municipalities Allow Cannabis-Related Businesses?
by Michael S. Hayes, Ph.D., Rutgers University-Camden During the Election of 2020, New Jersey citizens voted to legalize the consumption, production, and distribution of cannabis products. While New Jersey municipalities cannot prevent citizens from possessing [...]
Perspectives on Poverty in New Jersey, 2008-2020
Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) The impact of the pandemic on poverty and inequality continues to be studied at a global and national scale.[1],[2] Although the U.S. Census data have yet [...]
Catalyzing the Information Economy: Moving Towards Strategic Expansions of Open Data-Driven Value Creation
by Shiya John, Snigdha Mishra and Jim Samuel Open data is expected to influence trillions of dollars in global value creation by 2030, as projected by McKinsey Global Institute: “The boost to the economy from [...]
Guilt Tipping and the Inflated Default Tip
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) In a recent article, New York Times reporter Christina Morales writes about the spread of “tipping fatigue,” noting how electronic screens now recommend tips as high [...]
How has COVID Affected Women and Work in New Jersey? Our New Report Investigates
Sarah Small and Debra Lancaster. Women’s work lives have been disrupted in profound ways during COVID-19: in their roles as frontline workers confronting the virus, as caregivers taking on even more unpaid care work at home due to childcare disruptions [...]
Lowering Tax Rates on Motor Fuels: A Bad Idea That’s Gaining Momentum
By Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Policymakers’ hearts are in the right place. Presently, the United Kingdom and a few U.S. states are enabling at least a temporary reprieve from fuel taxes [...]
New Jersey’s Single-Family Housing Markets by County 2021
Naheed Azhar and Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) As the count of listings and asking prices flattened,[i] realtors and creditors predicted a rise in foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies as people were laid [...]
Report Release: COVID-19 and the Gender Wage Gap in New Jersey
With childcare disruptions, deep unemployment, and job changes, women in New Jersey have faced turbulent economic prospects worse than men’s along several dimensions throughout the pandemic. However, New Jersey women are no stranger to economic inequities [...]
An Early 2022 Inflation Update for New Jersey
Michael Lahr, R/Econ™ In terms of both crude oil and natural gas production, Russia is second only to the United States worldwide. Moreover, about 8% of U.S. petroleum imports are from Russia.[1] For Europe, that share [...]
Report Release: The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era
By Katharine Nelson. Affordable housing is increasingly scarce within the United States, and COVID-19 has dramatically exacerbated the simmering crisis in affordable housing. In New Jersey, the risk of eviction is greater than across the country [...]
Our First Report: Encouraging Activation of Vacant Commercial Properties
The New Jersey State Policy Lab is publishing our first report, Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions, written by Michael Hayes and Pengju Zhang. The economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in vacant [...]
New Jersey Intercounty Migration Trends, 2018-2019
by Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, R/Econ™ The latest report from R/Econ™ examines the migration trends across counties within New Jersey between 2018 and 2019. This report uses Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, rather than [...]
Has New Jersey’s Housing Market Peaked? A New Year’s Assessment
By Michael L. Lahr, Director of Rutgers Economic Research Service (R/ECON™) What is the status of New Jersey housing markets? The bottom line has been more or less the same since June 2020: double-digit price [...]
Which Sector is Leading New Jersey’s Pandemic Recovery?
November 30, 2021 Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) In the past few weeks, discussions on the “Great Resignation” and labor shortages have permeated news cycles. These phenomena, characterized by (1) [...]
NJ Inflation and You, Imperfect Together?
Michael L. Lahr, R/ECONTM November 15, 2021 Inflation has found its way to the front pages of newspapers for the first time in decades. From New Jersey’s perspective though, national reports of inflation are greater [...]
Unemployment by Income in New Jersey: A Pandemic Labor Force Surge?
Maia de la Calle & Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) As national media coverage focuses on the pandemic’s impact on individual states’ economies, New Jersey, one of the COVID-19 hotspot states [...]
New Jersey Reflections on Philadelphia’s Sugary Beverage Tax
Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) In a state such as New Jersey, where the cost of living is about a third more than the national average, childcare costs are largely out [...]
U.S. Census: How are States Impacted Financially
Amal Muse Every decade, across the United States, the federal government collects comprehensive data on every individual based on basic population characteristics including age, sex, marital status, household composition, family characteristics, and household size. [...]
The Post-Pandemic Economy: The Nation and New Jersey with a Focus on the Public Sector
Jennifer Spiegel & Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) The short-term prospects for the state’s economy remain quite exuberant. This is despite the arrival of the delta variant of COVID-19 in July 2021, [...]
How States Can Improve Unemployment Insurance during the Pandemic
Jennifer Spiegel The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn has brought about record job losses and the highest number of new unemployment claims since 1982. In mid-March 2020, new unemployment claims nationwide totaled [...]
New Jersey Gets about 75 cents on Each Dollar that It Sends to Washington
Maia de la Calle and & Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) R/Econ, the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service, has just completed a new report that compares the amount of federal tax dollars [...]