Analysis: New Jersey’s economy begins 2021 with a sluggish start
(The Center Square) – New Jersey’s economy began the year with a sluggish start, ranking behind other states in the region and the national average, according to a new Garden State Initiative (GSI) analysis.
The Garden State’s 5.6% growth rate in the first quarter ranked No. 41 in the nation, according to the analysis based on a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data. The rate trailed the national average of 6.4%.
“However, this was after growing at a faster rate than the nation in [three] of the prior [four] quarters,” Charles Steindel, the former New Jersey Treasury chief economist and resident scholar at the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College, said in an analysis for GSI. “There’s no ‘smoking gun’ among our industries accounting for any noticeable part of our Q1 lag.”
New York outperformed the Garden State, ranking No. 22 with a 6.6% growth rate. According to Steindel’s analysis, information and nondurable goods manufacturing were among the most prominent factors in the Empire State’s growth.
“But not much should be made of that: New York had done relatively poorly in past quarters, and in the nondurable area, all it was [is] that New York was almost flat – slightly better than the nation – while New Jersey had a noticeably larger decline than the nation as a whole,” Steindel added.
Regionally, Pennsylvania and Connecticut had a 6% growth rate, while Vermont and Maryland had a 6.1% rate. Massachusetts (6.9%), Rhode Island (7.2%), West Virginia (8.2%) and New Hampshire (8.4%) also outpaced New Jersey, but Maine (5.2%) and Delaware (5.6%) did not.
Nationally, Nevada (10.9%) saw the best growth rate, while the District of Columbia (2.9%) experienced the worst.
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