Two big-name companies announced planned exit from N.J.

New Jersey will be out a total of 225 jobs in July, when two big-name companies shift select operations to other states, according to filings with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The state’s heavy tax burden may have helped to drive them out, according to one Rutgers University economics professor.
E-Trade Financial will close its 171-person Jersey City customer service unit July 5, according to the financial service’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act filing with the state. Garden State employers generally must give at least 60 days notice before a plant is closed, or when mass layoffs — usually defined as targeting 50 or more employees — are planned.
The customer service jobs are being moved to E-Trade locations in Utah and Georgia, according to spokeswoman Tina Martineau.
“We remain committed to Jersey City,” including the retention of its offices in the city's Harborside Financial Center and several jobs, including in the legal and compliance arenas, she said.
Another 54 jobs will be lost beginning July 31, when Archer Daniels Midland Co. shutters its Glassboro cocoa facility, according to the company’s WARN filing.
“The company is in negotiations with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152 regarding the effects of the closing,” said ADM spokesman Roman Blahoski. “Production at the Glassboro facility will be transferred to a new ADM cocoa facility in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.”
Some of the employees at the Glassboro facility “will have the opportunity to transfer to the Hazleton plant,” he added.
“New Jersey is a high-tax state, and that can drive companies away,” said John Worrall, an economics professor at the Rutgers School of Business-Camden. Though he has no inside knowledge about the decisions, “research indicates that high tax burdens and other costs can make a big difference in corporate location decisions.”
“In New Jersey’s case, it’s not just the income taxes,” he said. “We’ve also got high property taxes and auto insurance costs that can influence decision-makers.”

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