Forbes recently came out with its state rankings on business-friendliness for 2018. These rankings were reached through reviews of six different categories of factors: business costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. Small business owners and entrepreneurs here in New Jersey may not be thrilled about the state’s performance in the rankings.
New Jersey ranked in the bottom half of the country
New Jersey was ranked as the 38th best state for business. As a note, New Jersey was behind all of its neighbors in the rankings. Delaware was No. 25, New York was No. 26 and Pennsylvania was No. 30.
Where the state did well
Of the six main categories the rankings looked at, there was one that New Jersey did particularly well in. The state made it into the top ten for quality of life, receiving a ranking of No. 6.
Where the state did poorly
There were, unfortunately, categories in which New Jersey ranked near the bottom of the nation. It was in the bottom 10 in two categories.
For one, it ranked 43rd in the country for regulatory environment.
A difficult regulatory environment can create compliance challenges for companies. When New Jersey companies encounter difficult issues related to regulatory compliance, getting quality guidance on addressing these issues can be of critical importance.
And then there is the category New Jersey had its poorest performance in: business costs. It ranked the second worst in the whole country in this category, with only Massachusetts coming in behind it.
This points to high operating costs being among the common challenges for New Jersey businesses. When operating expenses are high, it can be critical for small businesses to avoid mistakes that could trigger unnecessary costs. Among the things that could do this are mistakes related to legal matters. This underscores how important properly addressing legal issues that come up is for companies.
