Business group predicts slow recovery

Seventy percent of the companies surveyed by The New Jersey Business and Industry Association say sales, profits and spending fell over the past year.

A survey of business owners in New Jersey indicates the effects of the recession may last for a while.

Seventy percent of the companies surveyed by The New Jersey Business and Industry Association say sales, profits and spending fell over the past year.

Association President Philip Kirschner says companies don’t expect a quick recovery in 2010.

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Kirschner: It’s really going to be similar to 2009. It’s going to be very slow incremental improvement and it will be many years before we get back to the type of robust economy that we had just three years ago.

Only 16% of the companies expect to add jobs next year.

Kirscher says taxes and the overall cost of doing business in New Jersey are the most troublesome problems identified by employers. He says Governor-elect Christie’s review of state regulation on companies may help improve New Jersey’s business climate.