James W. Hughes

Hughes – What if the road from Tuckerton to Atlantic City was built?

September 26, 2023

Route S4A was intended to connect Tuckerton in Ocean County to Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey, during the 1920s. The road's construction would have significantly shortened the travel distance between North Jersey and Atlantic City, but it was never...

Reconciling rising unemployment and strong job growth: NJ’s uncertain fiscal outlook

September 25, 2023

New Jersey’s unemployment rate has steadily risen over the past year and now ranks among the highest in the nation. But while some economists and others suggest that’s a cause for concern, the topline numbers may not tell the full story. The state unemployment rate...

NJ job market numbers are out: See where we’re headed

August 19, 2023

New Jersey’s private sector lost 9,500 jobs in the past two months and the unemployment rate ticked up from 3.7% to 3.9% according to a preliminary jobs report released Thursday morning by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. That comes...

Many N.J. seniors, especially in cities, wouldn’t get much help from property tax cut plan, analysis shows

June 14, 2023

Supporters of a sweeping new property tax cut proposal for New Jersey seniors say a big goal is to entice older residents across the state to stay by making their lives here more affordable — so they won’t skip out and spend their golden years elsewhere. But while the...

What if the road from Tuckerton to Atlantic City was built?

May 1, 2023

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — Today, it's a nearly untouched portion of New Jersey, but it could have been filled with houses, lagoons, businesses and the constant hum of human activity during the summer. Narrow Great Bay Boulevard, also known as Seven Bridges Road,...

NJ Residents Wondering if Their Money Could be at Risk in the Bank

March 15, 2023

After the closures of Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York, some New Jersey residents are voicing concerns about the possibility of bank closures in the Garden State, and what that could mean for individual account holders. According to...

Arena near American Dream could get $2B replacement under new proposal

February 17, 2023

A massive new convention center and hotel in the New Jersey Meadowlands could cost more than $2.1 billion, but the project would generate far more than that for the local economy, supporters said on Friday. The proposal Friday by the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce...

More Millennials Are Leaving the Nest to Form Their Own Households

February 1, 2023

From 2016 to 2021, nearly every state saw a spike in the number of young adults between the ages of 25 and 44 forming new households, a development with far-reaching implications for state populations, economic growth and infrastructure. For many millennials, the...

Another Interest Rate Hike – What it Means for NJ Residents

January 31, 2023

The Federal Reserve will once again raise interest rates Wednesday afternoon, but this time they’re only expected to bump them up a quarter of a percent, not half a percent like we’ve had for the past several months. According to Rutgers University economist James...

Many More Single Women Than Men Are Homeowners. Here’s Why

January 28, 2023

On average, women earn 83 cents for every dollar a man makes — yet single women own roughly 10.7 million homes, compared to 8.1 million for single men, according to a recent analysis from LendingTree that looked at 2021 Census data. That’s a surprising statistic...