Market voices: Transformative developments Ray Jones, President, Camden Business Association Ben Laury, Director of County Commissioners, Salem County Lauren Moore, President, Atlantic County Economic Alliance Stephen Steglik, Mayor, Township of Mount Laurel

Ray Jones

President Camden Business Association

We were able to help craft the “Buy Camden” ordinance for the city of Camden that would direct 30% of the procurement spend on goods and services to local businesses. This was a major platform for us. It’ll be great to help these small businesses get some contracts that they might not have been able to get in the past. This is the first time there has been anything like this but it’s needed. Camden had a major boom — Camden Rising, as it was called — when all the anchor institutions came here and established their headquarters. Our next push is to go to these anchor institutions and ask for their help. We all know the cliché that small business is the economic engine of this country, but it’s true.

The future of construction and assembly of wind turbines in Salem County is incredible. This is the birth of an industry and a generational opportunity. In the Salem County area, a total of about 1,500 jobs will be directly created by the industry. Indirectly, there will be a significant amount of supporting jobs and industry created. The project is being constructed adjacent to a depressed area of the county, meaning much-needed investment and recovery is expected in this area. There will be training for those jobs that are going to be needed through a partnership with Salem County Community College and Salem County Vocational Technical School.

Ben Laury

Director of County Commissioners Salem County

Lauren Moore

President Atlantic County Economic Alliance Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), which is a $4.2 billion aerospace company, the Lockheed Martin of Israel, reached out to us to capitalize on our smart airport testbed and enter a research collaboration agreement with us toward safe air travel. Our aviation innovation hub is much larger and broader than the NARTP. Despite COVID, we were able to work with our elected officials here to create an aviation district as part of the incentive package that the governor signed on Jan. 7, 2021. There is no other aviation district in the state but ours. The definition of that aviation district gives us a special set of incentives that includes the Federal Aviation Administration grounds.

One of the industries that all of New Jersey is now looking closely at is recreational marijuana. Sixty-six percent of Mount Laurel voted in favor of the referendum to legalize marijuana with 70% of Burlington County voting in favor. This could be a big step in the right direction for local economies to start rebuilding and generating money, especially money that they didn’t plan on receiving. Mount Laurel’s location makes it a prime opportunity for cultivation, distribution and retail. As a township, we’re exploring all options. The benefits, not just medicinally and recreationally but economically, make it something that we might want to be able to take advantage of. I think it has great potential for job creation. Stephen Steglik

Mayor Township of Mount Laurel

( ) we have been showing quite a few sites. We are close to executing some deals to build 200,000 square feet of related facilities.”

Employment The largest employers in New Jersey are education and healthcare, providing over 1 million jobs in 2019, followed by professional and management services, which provided 563,000 jobs. The retail trade follows closely, providing almost 500,000 jobs, while finance and insurance employs about 370,000 people. Among the highest paying jobs are fund managers, aerospace manufacturing and publishing and broadcasting-related activities. The state has highly-specialized workers in pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing. It produces mainly cars, electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and chemicals, with a total value of around $660 billion. This is expected to grow to $1.36 trillion by 2045.

New Jersey’s income per capita is $39,069, outperforming the U.S. average. The household income in the state is $76,475 and the family median income is $94,337, both outstripping the national figures. However, there is a relatively large discrepancy between average female salary and average male salary in the state, especially in management roles. In 2019, fulltime male employees made $92,951, about 1.38 times the salary earned by full-time female employees. Within management roles, the average full-time salary for men was just under $151,000, while for women it reached just shy of $115,000. Management roles in New Jersey also show salary discrepancies across racial lines. The average salary for a Black manager in the state is about $78,500, while white and Asian counterparts earn $135,000 and $165,000 on average, respectively. The

New Jersey has one of the highest numbers of engineers and scientists per capita in the country.