Local economy improving but still has work to do, study finds

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Local economy improving but still has work to do, study finds

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Atlantic City area's economy has improved slightly in recent months but remains weak, according to the latest quarterly South Jersey Economic Review.

Job losses in Atlantic County, at 2.6 percent last year, have slowed to just 0.6 percent, according to the survey, the third of its kind from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

There were 147,300 jobs in the Atlantic City metropolitan area at the end of May, 800 fewer than a year ago.

The top performing sectors of the local economy, which added jobs during the period, remained retail trade and education/health care/social services, the review said this week.

The construction industry shed 600 jobs from May 2007 to May 2008, while the accommodations sector lost 700 jobs - 400 of them in the casino industry.

Those trends put southern New Jersey employment in worse shape than elsewhere in the state.

Compared with Atlantic County's 0.6 percent loss and Cumberland County's 1.3 percent jobs decline, Camden had an 0.8 percent gain, Trenton-Ewing also was up 0.8 percent and the state as a whole saw employment rise 0.2 percent during the 12-month period.

The housing market was similarly weak but mixed, according to the Stockton review.

Home prices in the region de-
clined 2.7 percent in the first quarter, according to Freddie Mac's survey of conventional mortgages.

But a National Association of Realtors survey found home prices hit bottom in 2007 and increased 4.8 percent in the first quarter.

While those surveys are in conflict, there's no question about the doldrums in homebuilding in the region. Permits to build single-family homes have declined 41 percent from the year-ago period in May.

Of longer-term concern, according to the review, is the decline in visitors to Atlantic City.

Last year, according to Casino Control Commission figures, there were 3.6 percent fewer visitors, the largest decline on record.

Using Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority data on spending per visitor, the Stockton report estimates that the decline cost the area $62.9 million in lost revenue for local, nongaming businesses.

If such declines - attributed to the slowing economy and regional gaming competition - were to continue, the consequences would be felt beyond the revenue, employment and payrolls at the casinos, the report said.

"Atlantic City's economic outlook, like many other metropolitan areas, is unlikely to improve significantly over the near term," the review stated.

Its longer-term prospects "will only begin to come into sharper focus once several major ongoing and planned projects begin to come online in 2009 and beyond."

E-mail Kevin Post:

KPost@pressofac.com