NJ ranking jumps on Top States for Business list

New Jersey has a reputation for not being friendly to businesses for various reasons, but a new ranking says that things have improved for Garden State businesses.

According to CNBC, New Jersey had the biggest jump, going from 42nd last year to 19th this year.

As reported by ro-nj.com, out of the ten categories measured, New Jersey still got one F; that was in business friendliness. Another poor category was the cost of doing business; New Jersey got a D in that one.

Here are New Jersey’s ranks in all the categories:

⚫ Workforce: No. 16
⚫ Infrastructure: No. 21
⚫ Economy: No. 19
⚫ Life, health, and inclusion: No. 3
⚫ Cost of doing business: No. 44
⚫ Tech and innovation: No. 21
⚫ Business friendliness: No. 48
⚫ Education: No. 4
⚫ Access to capital: No. 11
⚫ Cost of living: No. 30

Fueling the jump were considerations like the overall economic growth (the economy grew 2.6%) along with the red-hot housing market and two credit upgrades for the state after a full pension contribution.

Nationally, the top state for business, according to CNBC, is North Carolina, and the worst is Alaska.

For our neighbors, Pennsylvania tied for 15 with Massachusetts; New York is one slot behind us at #20.

As far as the methodology:

CNBC scored all 50 states on 86 metrics in 10 broad categories of competitiveness. Each category is weighted based on how frequently states use them as a selling point in economic development marketing materials. That way, our study ranks the states based on the attributes they use to sell themselves. We developed our criteria and metrics in consultation with a diverse array of business and policy experts, and the states. Our study is not an opinion survey. We use data from a variety of sources to measure the states’ performance.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

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