EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ-Rutgers University economists may have reacted with shock and dismay last week over word that New Jersey lost a total of 8,600 jobs in March, but commercial real estate leaders tell GlobeSt.com they see only an insignificant blip in economic recovery trends.
The state lost 11,600 private sector jobs for the month, while adding 3,000 government jobs, according to the report from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Meanwhile, unemployment stayed at 9 percent.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” says Gualberto (Gil) Medina, the managing director for Cushman & Wakefield and a former state Commerce secretary. “It’s one month - and focusing on monthly numbers may detract us from seeing the trend line, which has been fairly positive. Prior to March, the state has been generating an average of 2,000-3,000 new jobs per month for quite some time.”
Medina predicts that the March report – accompanied by the downward adjustment of February figures to show 7,000 jobs created instead of 8,700– will have no significant effect on the commercial real estate market. “Most corporate real estate professionals are planning their needs long term, and a month setback on employment does not come into play,” Medina says.
Similarly, Michael G. McGuinness, the head of NAIOP in New Jersey, says of the March job numbers: “I wouldn’t make much of it, given the overall trends.” McGuinness pointed to the seven finalists for the commercial real estate association’s “Deal of the Year” awards to be made at its annual gala May 12. “There have been years when we’ve not had too many deals to choose from when selecting finalists,” McGuinness says. “This year we had 14 deals submitted for consideration, all of them quite significant.”
Medina noted that there was more job growth last year than in any year since 2002, close to 50,000 new jobs created.
“While March may have represented a step back,” he said, “we are still about 9,000 jobs in the positive this year so far. I believe March is an anomaly.” Rutgers economist James Hughes was quoted last week as saying he hoped the numbers were a blip, but he termed the report “a shocker.” Two other economists from the university expressed concerns that the unemployment numbers indicated New Jersey’s economic recovery may serious lag the nation’s.
Medina’s response to that was: “In New Jersey, the real story line is that the economy has manifested clear signs of significant improvement. The employment picture is very positive in New Jersey.”
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
