Middle Atlantic

The worst of the recession may be over for New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but it will be a long, slow climb back to prosperity for this region. At midyear, New York City had lost 98,100 jobs since June 2001 and was faced with an unemployment rate of 8 percent, according to a recent report published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Much of this economic devastation can be attributed to the 9-11 attacks, but the Big Apple's business services sector was already slipping before the WTC tragedy. However, jobs are coming back to Manhattan. American Express is moving 4,000 employees back into its World Financial Center building from Jersey City, N.J.

New Jersey's suburban office market is still reeling from cutbacks at high-tech firms like Lucent and AT&T and from consolidation at the headquarters of the state's many pharmaceutical companies. Metropolitan Philadelphia's diverse economy has weathered the storm better than other parts of this region.

ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS' SALES
(in millions of dollars) EW Estimates Final 1998 Final 1999 Final 2000 Final 2001 Forecast 2002 Forecast 2003 Middle Atlantic 10,112.3 10,683.3 11,049.8 10,571.3 10,463.2 11,145.8 New Jersey 2,775.0 2,962.9 3,064.6 2,931.9 2,901.9 3,091.2 New York 4,087.0 4,418.6 4,570.2 4,372.3 4,327.6 4,609.9 Pennsylvania 3,250.3 3,301.8 3,415.1 3,267.2 3,233.8 3,444.7 EMPLOYMENT STATISTICSActual ECin thousands M F/S/RT G Middle Atlantic 110,497 2,086.5 10,690.2 2,843.0 New Jersey 26,609 427.0 2,309.1 615.9 Atlantic-Cape May PMSA 1,227 5.5 143.6 31.8 Bergen-Passaic PMSA 4,238 89.9 367.6 76.5 Camden NA 50.5 291.4 84.8 Jersey City PMSA 978 23.1 139.3 38.6 Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon PMSA 4,136 89.8 376.3 86.2 Monmouth-Ocean PMSA 3,156 18.2 266.6 70.2 Newark PMSA 9,202 119.0 566.8 147.5 Trenton PMSA 735 16.8 127.2 61.1 Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton PMSA 331 10.9 26.4 15.0 New York 53,638 805.2 5,111.9 1,501.1 Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA 2,037 35.2 260.2 111.5 Binghamton MSA 611 20.3 58.6 23.2 Buffalo-Niagara Falls MSA 2,033 80.7 308.5 91.7 Dutchess County PMSA 713 17.6 65.3 23.3 Elmira MSA 226 7.6 22.0 7.6 Glens Falls MSA 187 7.1 30.6 10.9 Nassau-Suffolk PMSA 8,216 103.4 733.3 201.2 New York PMSA NA 270.4 2,671.2 653.5 New York City* 24,211 221.6 2,341.6 561.2 Newburgh PMSA 1,005 11.3 74.0 30.4 Rochester MSA 3,033 101.9 297.0 86.0 Rockland County 1,155 11.6 62.7 20.9 Syracuse MSA 1,443 44.8 185.1 64.8 Utica-Rome MSA 417 17.7 76.1 28.7 Westchester County 3,385 35.2 253.1 66.1 Pennsylvania 30,444 854.3 3,269.2 726.0 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton MSA 2,209 52.1 162.2 32.6 Altoona MSA 356 9.4 31.4 8.6 Erie MSA 695 30.3 73.9 15.2 Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle MSA 1,466 40.3 194.7 69.1 Johnstown MSA 301 10.7 48.9 14.6 Lancaster MSA 1,491 55.5 118.3 19.3 Philadelphia PMSA 13,885 276.3 1,466.9 308.9 Philadelphia County 1,062 50.9 446.8 119.3 Pittsburgh MSA 6,690 132.8 692.1 124.0 Reading MSA 1,138 39.5 88.1 19.9 Scranton-Hazelton-Wilkes-Barre MSA 1,295 51.4 152.5 34.8 Sharon MSA 222 10.4 27.8 5.9 State College MSA 310 7.5 30.1 24.3 Williamsport MSA 216 13.6 27.5 6.6 York MSA 895 44.0 81.4 17.0 * (Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens & Richmond Counties)