As Economic Recovery Stumbles Ahead, Morris County Job Market Comes Along

Less than a week ago, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno told local business leaders that when Bayer HealthCare opens its new world headquarters—consolidating 2,500 employees from four northeast locations—it will be in Morris County. It was a small glimpse at an economic recovery yet to come.

This confounding nature of the recovery—which nationwide crawls forward, and sometimes back—is seen in the county’s latest unemployment figures.

The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported that Morris County’s unemployment rate in February, the latest figures available, rose from 6.3 percent to 7.4 percent. But it's a rise the department attributed to more people again seeking work, which adds to the workforce. 

The department also reported that there were 826 fewer continuing unemployment claims in Morris County in February.

The February jobs report said: “Recent indicators of New Jersey’s economic health, taken together appear to point toward a brightening economic picture. An increase in the unemployment rate occurred, not because more people lost jobs, but rather, because more discouraged workers found the job market encouraging enough to resume actively searching for work.”

The department also said: ”The return to the labor force also may have been spurred by the increased number of job listings posted by employers or increased employment in key industry sectors like professional and business services or construction.”
While the state’s unemployment rate increased .1 percent to 9.2 percent in February, statewide, the department said, the number of job listings increased 2 percent from January.

For Morris County, the number of open job listings hit 5,588 in February, the department said.

Leigh Meixell, economic development coordinator at the Morris County Economic Development Corp., said that during the agency’s “Listening to Business” sessions in Parsippany, executives talk about how they are filling specific professional positions to fill a needs in their companies. But there hasn't been general hiring—at least not yet.

Yet Maggie Peters, the economic development corporation's executive director, said things are looking up.

"MCEDC [the economic development corporation] has been actively visiting businesses through our 'Listening to Business Initiative.' and what we have been finding is that Morris County companies have immediate plans to or are currently hiring people but carefully screening candidates for the very best fit," she said. " Myself, Jack Patten, director, Morris/Sussex/Warren Workforce Investment Board, and our representative from the  lieutenant governor's NJ Business Action Center have seen increased interest in our services.  We partner to bring all options to the table to make sure Morris County businesses are aware of every program they are eligible for to make sure they continue to be happy here."

While more jobs are available, not all are professional positions with high pay. The state labor department, in its Top 50 Occupational Listings of jobs in demand, outlines a need for 6,450 cashiers at an average of $9.55 an hour, and 1,790 stock clerks and order fillers, at $11.55. But it only lists a need for 590 computer system analysts at $43 an hour, and just 40 database managers at $39.20 an hour.

The Top 50 list shows what labor analysts have been pointing out for a while—that as the economy shifts to services from manufacturing, there will be a need for more lower-paying jobs.

The state said that health services is an area where growth is expected. Among the Top 50 jobs in demand are 1,260 registered nurses at $35.05 an hour and 130 medical service managers at $49,35 an hour. But it also lists the need for 380 nursing aides or orderlies at $12.70 an hour.

Guadagno made her announcement about Bayer last week at a Morris Chamber of Commerce event, which she followed by attending at ribbon cutting ceremony at Dendreon in Hanover, which has expanded its workforce from 100 to 500 in response to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a new drug to fight prostate cancer.

Bayer is expected to announce that it will move its world headquarters to a Morris County site, Guadagno told those gathered for the chamber event. It had said in press releases just days before it would be consolidating operations from four Northeast locations, one of which is in Morris Township, into one—but it hasn't announced in what town.

In 2010, the county Economic Development Corp. reported that seven companies relocated within Morris County, five moved into the county, four expanded their current locations and 22 new companies moved into Morris County office space.

Parsippany saw 15 company changes; Florham Park, three, including the start of a new BASF world headquarters at the Green at Florham Park, home of the New York Jets; and Morris Township saw two company shifts, including the addition of 450 jobs when Covanta Energy Corp. moved in.

Dominick Prevete, a regional vice president for Weichert Realty in Morris Plains, said the real estate market is getting better.

“People say home sales is a journey of 100 miles,” he told members of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce this week. "I think we are at the 70 to 80 mile marker in January.”

Last year, single home prices were up 1 to 1.5 percent in Morris County, he said. For comparison, he said, from 2000 to 2006, home prices rose 114 percent, but then dropped 25 percent between 2006 and 2010.

Prevete said that means prices have leveled off. Volume so far this year is up 6 percent, he said.

“We are seeing more home selling,” he said.

The selling should be aided by the amount of available credit. While the banks have tightened credit rules for prospective homeowners, Prevete said Weichert has access to $3 billion for home lending. In addition, there are many solid loan and down payment programs that can assist a family on their purchase.

That should bode well for increasing the number of real estate agents in the county. Prevete said the county has about one-third fewer agents in the field than it did before the housing slump.