This is a guest blog post By Margie Piliere, Chief Economic Development Officer, Choose New Jersey, Inc.
Almost all 50 States in the U.S.A. have a nickname. New Jersey’s? “The Garden State,” given the moniker in 1876 by an attorney politician farm owner due to the State’s thriving agriculture. The name still fits: agriculture remains a robust New Jersey industry.
But it’s our key manufacturing industries that bring the greatest bounty of economic growth to the Garden State. For example, in 2014 the Transportation, Logistics and Distribution Industry employed 360,618 workers – representing 11% of the State’s private sector workforce and contributing $55.5 billion to the State’s RGDP. Advanced Manufacturing and Finance also are top producers.
Many of these companies come to New Jersey from overseas. We are home to 1,100+ multi-national businesses and 270 foreign companies’ headquarters, including global giants BASF and Honeywell.
Exhibiting in the U.S. National Investment Pavilion at Hannover Messe enables us to continue broadening our connections with a wide array of manufacturers from around the world. We look forward to discussing the assets that make New Jersey an attractive place to do business.
One of those assets is our perfect location in the heart of the U.S. Northeast Corridor, giving companies easy access to one of the most concentrated and affluent consumer markets in the world. A business in central New Jersey can serve over 22 million consumers, who collectively have nearly $800 billion in disposable income and live within a 2-hour drive.
Our optimal locations provide strategic access to the world’s trade, financial and regulatory centers, including New York City and Washington D.C. Plus, we offer unparalleled access via road, rail, air or sea to nearly every place in the world. Our road and rail network – 2,800 miles of interstates and highways and almost 1,000 miles of freight lines, provides connections to virtually every road network and major market in North America.
Ours is the only U.S. state whose air, rail, pipe, air and port/marine facilities are within 1 square mile of each other. We have the 3rd largest seaport in North America and the biggest maritime cargo center on the East Coast. The Port of New York and New Jersey offers easy goods transport to national and international markets. When combined with the region’s air cargo network, the deep-water ports of Newark, Elizabeth and Bayonne serve as a North American gateway for international freight and a leading domestic cargo hub.
By air, New Jersey gives business travelers and companies needing to move cargo unparalleled access to destinations and connections almost anywhere in the world. Daily non-stop flights to more than 90 U.S. cities and 110 international destinations via Newark Liberty International Airport and other nearby airports, get you where you want to go.
Then there’s our workforce: New Jersey has the most highly-educated, highly-skilled workers in the U.S. Manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and technology companies find it easy to recruit top talent here. In New Jersey, 36.4% of our workforce graduates from college with a bachelor’s degree or higher. The national average: 29%. The State also has one of the highest high school graduation rates in the country: 89.7% compared to the 82% U.S. average.
New Jersey’s established workforce development and training programs provide quick response to employers’ rapidly-changing needs. We give prospective employees exactly the skills companies require, while the State’s Talent Networks connect employers with trained employees in 7 major industry clusters.
Choose New Jersey is proud to represent New Jersey at Hannover Messe. We offer companies interested in growing in our Garden State a full range of complimentary services. We’re here to help your company locate or expand, in the State of New Jersey.
For more information, please visit us on the web.
