Survey: Businesses in New Jersey not expecting a happy new year

Pessimism about a recession has become grim realism among New Jersey companies: Eight out of 10 in a new survey said hiring would stop or decrease in the coming six months. Nearly a third expect lower sales and profit.

The outlook, captured in the New Jersey Business and Industry Association's annual unscientific survey, was near its lowest in years. The September survey of 1,450 mostly small companies did not have a margin of error, but trends were stark.

"Many businesses are struggling to survive, and they expect things to get worse in 2009," the association's president, Philip Kirschner, said in a statement.

Nearly 69 percent of companies statewide and 68 percent in South Jersey said their industries were in a recession or heading into one.

Just 17 percent of companies statewide, and 13 percent in South Jersey, said they expected to expand employment in 2009. Even more expect payrolls to decline. The association said only its 1991 survey found a more negative employment outlook.

Companies in nine South Jersey counties were slightly more pessimistic than the statewide tally. More than 22 percent expected to cut jobs compared with 19 percent statewide and 15 percent in central New Jersey. Only one in five firms in South Jersey expect conditions in their own industries to improve.

Outlooks for sales and profit reached lows not seen since earlier recessions: 59 percent of firms expect results to be flat or decline, compared with 43 percent last year. There was no comparable breakout for South Jersey firms.