Jones Lang LaSalle
01/1/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
'05: N.J.'s year of economic trials
High energy prices, storms hurt consumers
BY DAVID P. WILLIS GANNETT NEW JERSEY
If there's one thing to remember about 2005, it's probably that your wallet got lighter.
A gallon of gasoline was more expensive for that drive to the Shore or New York City.
It cost more to heat your home so far this winter, and it was likely more expensive to throw a load of clothes in the washer.
"Every which way you go, you feel smacked in the face with another increase," Keansburg resident Gavrielle Gemma said.
Higher energy prices were among the top stories of 2005.
On Dec. 14, regulators allowed New Jersey Natural Gas Co., Public Service Electric & Gas and Elizabethtown Gas to raise their rates.
The state Board of Public Utilities and the gas companies point to devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, that struck the Gulf Coast a few months ago.
Damage from the storms decreased natural-gas production, disrupting an already volatile wholesale gas market and pushing prices to all-time highs.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina also caused a spike in gasoline prices.
Prices in New Jersey skyrocketed, topping out at $3.17 for a gallon of regular Sept. 10.
On Friday, the average price was $2.09 a gallon, according to AAA, still higher than a year ago, when the average price in the two counties was $1.78.
"It was the typical bipolar year with more manic stages than depressive stages," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall.
Home heating-oil prices soared as well.
"I've been doing this for 21 years, and I've never seen anything like it," Dan DeSeno, president of Midway Ice & Fuel Co., a Neptune heating oil dealer, said in September.
All these increases hurt, said Gemma, a member of the Central New Jersey Coalition for Peace and Justice, which opposes the natural gas rate hike. "It shockingly lowers the standard of living for working-class families."
Weak job growth
The job market in New Jersey also was one of 2005's top stories.
Through November, New Jersey added a modest 36,000 jobs, compared with 46,300 jobs in 2004.
During the past five years, virtually all of the job growth in the state has been in the low-paying sector of the economy, said economist James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
And job growth has been slowing.
New Jersey ranks ninth in the United States in employment size, yet in employment growth, the state ranks 18th, Hughes said.
Job growth in top fields such as business services, telecommunications and finance has dwindled, Hughes said.
At 4.6 percent, the state's unemployment rate continued to remain below the national average.
"The employment rate might be low,"Hughes said. "But we probably have a lot of people that are underemployed. They are working, but not in the jobs they have" skills for."
Workers in low-paying jobs got a boost this year as the state's minimum wage rose to $6.15 an hour from $5.15, the first hike since 1997.
The state's strong housing market has continued to act as a locomotive for the economy, Hughes said.
Home prices continued to rise as recently as the third quarter. But there are signs that rising mortgage rates are cooling off what has been a sizzling housing market, real-estate agents and mortgage bankers said.
During 2005, retailers announced some large mergers.
Kmart completed its $12.3 billion acquisition of Sears, Roebuck and Co. in March, creating the nation's third-biggest retailer, now called Sears Holding Corp.
In August, Federated Department Stores, parent company of Macy's, acquired May Department Stores, the home of many well-known retail chains, including Lord & Taylor.
About a month later, Federated said it would sell its bridal stores, including the After Hours Formalwear men's shops and David's Bridal.
Other businesses are going through transitions.
This month, Six Flags, the world's second-largest operator of them parks, including Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, abandoned plans to sell the company after Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder took control of it.
Telecom changes
Changes in the telecommunications industry also became a big story.
Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp. moved its headquarters, including about 1,400 employees, from Edison to Route 520 in Holmdel.
The company renovated the 350,000-square-foot building that it is leasing and which was once home to Prudential Financial's property and casualty division.
In November, local telephone giant SBC Communications, based in San Antonio, Texas, completed its purchase of former parent Bedminster-based AT&T Corp., changing its name to AT&T Inc.
Verizon Communications also began deploying a new fiber-optic network in parts of the state. Eventually, the company hopes to provide cable television services in New Jersey and become a new competitor to cable companies such as Comcast and Cablevision.
Verizon, which has begun moving employees into the former AT&T campus, which it purchased, in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards, is putting its strongest effort behind state legislation that would allow it to apply for a statewide franchise.
The push, which is vigorously opposed by the state's cable industry, would allow it to bypass local franchise rules.
A 98-day strike by about 1,350 workers at Jersey Central Power & Light dominated the news earlier this year.
The contract between JCP&L and five locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was settled in March after the intervention of acting Gov. Richard J. Codey and then-New Jersey Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Thomas D. Carver.
01/1/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
'05: N.J.'s year of economic trials
High energy prices, storms hurt consumers
BY DAVID P. WILLIS GANNETT NEW JERSEY
If there's one thing to remember about 2005, it's probably that your wallet got lighter.
A gallon of gasoline was more expensive for that drive to the Shore or New York City.
It cost more to heat your home so far this winter, and it was likely more expensive to throw a load of clothes in the washer.
"Every which way you go, you feel smacked in the face with another increase," Keansburg resident Gavrielle Gemma said.
Higher energy prices were among the top stories of 2005.
On Dec. 14, regulators allowed New Jersey Natural Gas Co., Public Service Electric & Gas and Elizabethtown Gas to raise their rates.
The state Board of Public Utilities and the gas companies point to devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, that struck the Gulf Coast a few months ago.
Damage from the storms decreased natural-gas production, disrupting an already volatile wholesale gas market and pushing prices to all-time highs.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina also caused a spike in gasoline prices.
Prices in New Jersey skyrocketed, topping out at $3.17 for a gallon of regular Sept. 10.
On Friday, the average price was $2.09 a gallon, according to AAA, still higher than a year ago, when the average price in the two counties was $1.78.
"It was the typical bipolar year with more manic stages than depressive stages," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall.
Home heating-oil prices soared as well.
"I've been doing this for 21 years, and I've never seen anything like it," Dan DeSeno, president of Midway Ice & Fuel Co., a Neptune heating oil dealer, said in September.
All these increases hurt, said Gemma, a member of the Central New Jersey Coalition for Peace and Justice, which opposes the natural gas rate hike. "It shockingly lowers the standard of living for working-class families."
Weak job growth
The job market in New Jersey also was one of 2005's top stories.
Through November, New Jersey added a modest 36,000 jobs, compared with 46,300 jobs in 2004.
During the past five years, virtually all of the job growth in the state has been in the low-paying sector of the economy, said economist James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
And job growth has been slowing.
New Jersey ranks ninth in the United States in employment size, yet in employment growth, the state ranks 18th, Hughes said.
Job growth in top fields such as business services, telecommunications and finance has dwindled, Hughes said.
At 4.6 percent, the state's unemployment rate continued to remain below the national average.
"The employment rate might be low,"Hughes said. "But we probably have a lot of people that are underemployed. They are working, but not in the jobs they have" skills for."
Workers in low-paying jobs got a boost this year as the state's minimum wage rose to $6.15 an hour from $5.15, the first hike since 1997.
The state's strong housing market has continued to act as a locomotive for the economy, Hughes said.
Home prices continued to rise as recently as the third quarter. But there are signs that rising mortgage rates are cooling off what has been a sizzling housing market, real-estate agents and mortgage bankers said.
During 2005, retailers announced some large mergers.
Kmart completed its $12.3 billion acquisition of Sears, Roebuck and Co. in March, creating the nation's third-biggest retailer, now called Sears Holding Corp.
In August, Federated Department Stores, parent company of Macy's, acquired May Department Stores, the home of many well-known retail chains, including Lord & Taylor.
About a month later, Federated said it would sell its bridal stores, including the After Hours Formalwear men's shops and David's Bridal.
Other businesses are going through transitions.
This month, Six Flags, the world's second-largest operator of them parks, including Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, abandoned plans to sell the company after Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder took control of it.
Telecom changes
Changes in the telecommunications industry also became a big story.
Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp. moved its headquarters, including about 1,400 employees, from Edison to Route 520 in Holmdel.
The company renovated the 350,000-square-foot building that it is leasing and which was once home to Prudential Financial's property and casualty division.
In November, local telephone giant SBC Communications, based in San Antonio, Texas, completed its purchase of former parent Bedminster-based AT&T Corp., changing its name to AT&T Inc.
Verizon Communications also began deploying a new fiber-optic network in parts of the state. Eventually, the company hopes to provide cable television services in New Jersey and become a new competitor to cable companies such as Comcast and Cablevision.
Verizon, which has begun moving employees into the former AT&T campus, which it purchased, in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards, is putting its strongest effort behind state legislation that would allow it to apply for a statewide franchise.
The push, which is vigorously opposed by the state's cable industry, would allow it to bypass local franchise rules.
A 98-day strike by about 1,350 workers at Jersey Central Power & Light dominated the news earlier this year.
The contract between JCP&L and five locals of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was settled in March after the intervention of acting Gov. Richard J. Codey and then-New Jersey Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Thomas D. Carver.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:12 AM
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