By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
New Jersey manufactures are looking to leverage their influence among lawmakers. With some 10,000 manufacturers in the state employing north of 360,000 New Jerseyans, they say they’re a force to be reckoned with.
“That’s phenomenal in itself, but that doesn’t include engineering, that doesn’t include transportation and logistics. And there’s a really cool fact that for one manufacturing job, it drives four other jobs. So that’s really 1.8 million New Jerseyans work in some connection,” said NJMEP CEO John Kennedy.
A group of industry professionals and state lawmakers spent two days in the southern, then northern part of the state to talk about how to expand an industry that’s garnering more than $50 billion.
“And we have a choice. Do we want to be part of the resurgence of that economy, or do we want to continue business as usual that was hardcore, old school manufacturing based? Are we going to re-invent our economy, re-invent our legislative laws, re-invent our permitting process?” asked EarthColor Chief Sustainability Officer David Podmayersky.
“You know, small businesses and medium-sized businesses really are the economic engine here in New Jersey and we have a real variety of them. We need to support them, give them opportunities to expand, give them what they need in terms of tax credits and a workforce that can do the jobs for them so that they stay here,” said Assemblywoman Mila Jasey.
Attendees touted the advantages of growing business in the Garden State. A strong education system feeds the workforce and a central location aids the supply chain.
“We’re second or third in the nation in education. We’re also a tremendous spot for all sorts of supply chain, which is our transportation — train, plane, truck, boat,” Kennedy said.
In the 2016 election, then-candidate Trump campaigned on a platform to bring overseas jobs back to the states and ease tax burdens on businesses.
“The idea that we could decrease our corporate business tax for the country — we have the highest in the world — that is a block for our manufacturers because it really puts a restriction on how they can compete globally,” said Assemblywoman Nancy Muñoz.
At the White House today, President Trump signed two executive orders aimed at curbing what he called trade abuse. He said they “set the stage for a great revival of American manufacturing.” His administration is expected to take up tax reform as its next major item on the legislative agenda.
“I can’t judge how President Trump will do or not do. But I think the misnomer that we have is we actually believe that an elected official somehow knows everything about everything. If we the industry don’t help educate our elected officials, it’s on us. So we’ve got to make sure that our voice is heard,” Kennedy said.