South Jersey economy predicted 5th worst in the U.S.

A study released last Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and HIS Global Insight predicts that for the rest of this decade the Atlantic City/Hammonton region will have one of the slowest economic growth rates of the entire United States. The study did not include predictions for the more rural regions of southwest New Jersey like Cumberland County. I suspect that if it did, most of the South Jersey region would fall into the category of economic laggards. A Wall Street Journal article summarizing the slowest growing economies listed Atlantic City/Hammonton as fifth from the bottom of 363 metropolitan regions in the U.S. The report does not go into detail on the reasons for economic drag but I think any reasonable assessment would include high taxes and over-regulation of business among the reasons that many businesses do not expand into the region.