Central Jersey home sale values rising: Is it enough?

New Jersey has its own set of problems. James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers, said more people are leaving the state than ever before. Hughes compared that statistic to a “balance of payments.” Between 2010 and...

Dealing With the Millennials’ Urban Migration

A report by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, showed people in their 20s and early 30s are opting to leave the suburbs for “higher-density, non-suburban activity environments and do not, in general, find suburban...

Economic shift from suburbs to cities

The technology boom of the 1990s has essentially uprooted the suburban office agglomeration of the 1980s that drew people to suburban New Jersey in the first place. James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers...

Polling 'Failures' Predicted for 2016 US Election

As the U.S. presidential election cycle goes into high gear, and polls become a constant staple of media coverage, experts say it has become harder to gauge who will win the race. They point to past pre-election surveys that did not accurately predict the...

Learning How to Job-Hunt

Most work­force pro­grams provide a short burst of cash, to tide people over un­til they can get back to work, or help young people earn a de­gree so they can land a high­er-pay­ing job. They’re de­signed to help the short-term un­em­ployed, notes Carl Van Horn, the...

Christie announces state takeover of Atlantic City finances

Ultimately, whether its a takeover depends on nuances of the legislation, said Mark Pfeiffer, a former deputy director with the state Division of Local Government Services. Will the city council be consulted? Will the Local Finance Board act on the council’s...

Is the NJ job market really building momentum?

“I think we have reasonable momentum going into 2016, however there is always a concern about the quality of jobs, and that’s a concern nationally as well, according to James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers...

Keeping old, dumb laws on the books is dangerous

Some laws on the books make no sense. What do we do with them? Just ignore them? Well, sure, in some cases, but, you never know when someone may decide to arrest you for detaining a homing pigeon or failing to audibly signal your intention to pass another vehicle (and...

NJ's 2015 job gains: trend or blip?

The state also finally got a boost in December from the all-important business and professional services sector, which contains the kind of high-paying jobs that are key to the health of the state’s economy. Until the addition of 6,700 jobs in December, the sector had...

Expert economic outlook for NJ: Cautiously pessimistic

For future success in a post-suburban economy, New Jersey’s business, political and community leaders have to confront a three-decade-old office footprint that has become outdated and unusable in today’s growing digital economy. “The harsh economic...

3 Shore employers who are hiring

“We ended the year with a bang, that’s for sure,” Rutgers University economist James W. Hughes said. “I’m not saying we have economic liftoff, but it certainly is a good way to enter 2016.” The unemployment report is a survey of employers to...

N.J. added 13,300 jobs in December, for 65,200 in 2015

The state has now recovered just over 80 percent of the 258,000 jobs lost as a result of the recession. James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, called it a “strong report.” He noted that the jobless...

Rutgers study finds local governments use outdated technology

But local government agencies and other organizations can become technologically proficient to understand and manage their technology risks, according to the Bloustein Local Government Research Center. As stated by the center, there are six interrelated categories of...

NJ leads the US in ‘outmigration’

“Between 2010 and 2015, New Jersey had a net domestic migration loss of 269,194 people — that is a net figure: 269,194 more people moved from New Jersey to the rest of the country than people from the rest of country moved to New Jersey,” said James W....