Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: NJ business leaders on Mikie Sherrill amid economy challenges – Full Analysis.
4-minute read
Gov. Mikie Sherrill addresses affordability crisis in NJ: video
Watch new Gov. Mikie Sherrill on state affordability: “Too many people are working too hard and still falling behind.” Jan. 20, 2026 at NJPAC, Newark
New Jersey faces steep economic hurdles — from high taxes to a shrinking workforce and lagging GDP — but at least according to some of the state’s top business lobbyists and other executives, the newly-inaugurated Gov. Mikie Sherrill is off to a good start trying to do something about it.
“We all know we have a new leader in the state of New Jersey and a leader that’s gotten off to a very aggressive and wonderful start,” Tom Bracken, who heads the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, a business lobbying group, said during the first day of a two-day summit in Atlantic City on March 31.
The warmer attitude toward Sherrill differs from the stances business groups had with her predecessor, Democrat Phil Murphy, who was governor between 2018 and 2026.
Story continues below photo gallery
Under Murphy, the state budget increased from $34.7 billion in 2018 to $58.8 billion in 2025. Murphy also enacted a higher corporate business tax rate, as well as a “millionaires tax” on those earning above $1 million.
“He was very anti-business. He did not embrace the business community from the get-go,” said Michele Siekerka, president of another lobbying group, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.
Hard to do business in NJ
Sherrill and her competitor in the governor’s race — Republican former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli — ran on campaigns centered on affordability and reigning in the cost of living, as Americans were socked with 40-year-high inflation coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hear again and again: it’s just too hard to do business here today,” Sherrill said during her keynote remarks on March 31. “Permitting is too slow. Licensing is a black box. Projects fail because they simply can’t afford the uncertainty or the wait.”
“Time is money, and all the delays simply make the cost of doing business too high,” Sherrill said. “Too many companies have told me they’ve had to move out of state to grow or to just get by.”
Bracken, after Sherrill’s appearance, called her remarks “music to our ears,” saying “it was a transformative speech to the business community.”
In her first weeks in office, Sherrill has “demonstrated a commitment to working collaboratively with the business community, listening to concerns and identifying shared priorities,” added Vanessa Broadhurst, the executive vice president of global corporate affairs at the New Brunswick-based drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, when introducing Sherrill for her keynote address.
Missing from Sherrill’s remarks was any mention of the proposed elimination of certain business tax breaks and other deductions, fines for New Jersey companies that do not offer health insurance, and the elimination of loopholes in the state’s corporate transit fee.
All of these have been hard sells to business lobbying groups.
What does Sherrill like from prior governors?
Sherrill spoke highly of the state’s Strategic Innovation Centers, which were established under Murphy. There are 12 such centers across the state meant to fast-track targeted industries including life sciences, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and information technology.
“That will help to attract more private capital and build on efforts already underway at places like the New Jersey AI Hub in Princeton, and the Hughes Center for Advanced Aerospace in Egg Harbor,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill also nodded to the state’s Business Action Centers established by former-Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, and which serve as a “one-stop-shop” to help businesses with permitting, site selection and fundraising.
“Other states are doing so much better than we are in terms of being able to get the word out on what resources and capabilities and the opportunities that we have in New Jersey,” U.S. Sen. Andy Kim said Tuesday. “We need to be much more aggressive in how to be able to mobilize that.”
What are other business figures saying?
Others also had good things to say about Sherrill’s initial efforts on the business front.
Mike Renna, CEO of the energy company South Jersey Industries, said that he felt Sherrill “really put momentum behind regulatory reform” on energy and utilities regulations.
“We have to work together with our regulators to make sure we’re making those investments — that we do it in a way that maintains New Jersey’s competitiveness and affordability,” Renna said.
Jaci Kator, the New Jersey regional vice president for AT&T, said that certain factors like the high tax rate make doing business in the state difficult.
And “having the open communication — the two-way communication – is critical to getting it right,” she said.
“We want to be known as business-friendly,” Kator added.
Where does New Jersey stand economically?
Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released in January showed that New Jersey’s 3.4% rate of growth in GDP — the total monetary value of all the goods and services it produced — trailed the national GDP growth of 4.4% in the third quarter of 2025.
Preliminary numbers from earlier in the year show that in 2025, New Jersey’s workforce added just 9,000 jobs and edged up to a four-year high unemployment rate of 5.4%. Only California had a higher unemployment rate at 5.5% as of December 2025.
New Jersey’s sluggish job growth in 2025 continued a downward trend that spanned several years. The state added nearly 64,200 jobs in 2023, but only 39,800 in 2024, according to data compiled by the New Jersey Department of Labor.
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams in December described the economy as “low-hire, low-fire.”
And New Jersey gas prices are pushing $4 a gallon, up over $1 from a month ago, amid the U.S.-Israel-led war against Iran, which has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas passes.
Proponents of New Jersey’s higher cost of living argue that it’s counter-balanced by the state’s proximity to economic powerhouses like New York City and Philadelphia, access to three major airports and the I-95 Corridor, and access to numerous colleges.
“It has been great, from the state to the county to the two boroughs,” said Netflix’s head of studios and production in North America, Nick Maniatis, speaking about the streaming giant’s planned studio at the former Fort Monmouth site. “We’ve had such a great experience, and the people have been welcoming.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100, Facebook and Instagram
”