Aviation research park / An economic boon
pressofAtlanticCity.com
Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2009
The figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are sobering: Wages in southern New Jersey are far lower than the national
average - $740 per week in the Atlantic County area, for example, compared with a national average of $841.
A big reason for that low number is the huge number of low-paying service jobs connected to the tourism and gambling
industries, which pull down the regional average. Consider that the Atlantic County area's 23,700 food-related jobs earn an
average yearly salary of $23,770, according to BLS. Another 13,040 service jobs - a category that includes everything from
casino-floor workers to hairdressers - earn an average $25,910.
Meanwhile, as the gambling industry retrenches to meet new economic realities, even those low-paying jobs are becoming
endangered. The mantra of diversification - heard for decades in Atlantic County - has never seemed so urgent.
So here's a little good news, a truly hopeful sign for the region's economic future: The Next Generation Aviation Research Park
Inc. is moving steadily forward, buoyed by support from various county, federal and state agencies that include the Casino
Reinvestment Development Authority, the South Jersey Economic Development District, The Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey and, of course, the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center. The park is expected to go up
in a swath of land behind Wawa on the airport circle, where Tilton and Delilah roads meet.
Local officials have long sought to maximize the potential of the tech center to the area's economy. With the tech center now
conducting the research and engineering to take the nation's aviation system into the future - the Next Generation Air
Transportation System, or NextGen -the time is right for this major new public/private project.
In other words, folks, this looks real. The first phase of construction bids have been sought, and a second round will be requested
later this month. The contract is expected to be awarded next month.
The project is expected to include as many as seven buildings with about 400,000 square feet of laboratory and research space,
and could create as many as 2,000 jobs -many of them the kinds of good, high-paying, skilled jobs that this area needs and has
long sought to attract.
Posted: Thursday, September 10, 2009
The figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are sobering: Wages in southern New Jersey are far lower than the national
average - $740 per week in the Atlantic County area, for example, compared with a national average of $841.
A big reason for that low number is the huge number of low-paying service jobs connected to the tourism and gambling
industries, which pull down the regional average. Consider that the Atlantic County area's 23,700 food-related jobs earn an
average yearly salary of $23,770, according to BLS. Another 13,040 service jobs - a category that includes everything from
casino-floor workers to hairdressers - earn an average $25,910.
Meanwhile, as the gambling industry retrenches to meet new economic realities, even those low-paying jobs are becoming
endangered. The mantra of diversification - heard for decades in Atlantic County - has never seemed so urgent.
So here's a little good news, a truly hopeful sign for the region's economic future: The Next Generation Aviation Research Park
Inc. is moving steadily forward, buoyed by support from various county, federal and state agencies that include the Casino
Reinvestment Development Authority, the South Jersey Economic Development District, The Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey and, of course, the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center. The park is expected to go up
in a swath of land behind Wawa on the airport circle, where Tilton and Delilah roads meet.
Local officials have long sought to maximize the potential of the tech center to the area's economy. With the tech center now
conducting the research and engineering to take the nation's aviation system into the future - the Next Generation Air
Transportation System, or NextGen -the time is right for this major new public/private project.
In other words, folks, this looks real. The first phase of construction bids have been sought, and a second round will be requested
later this month. The contract is expected to be awarded next month.
The project is expected to include as many as seven buildings with about 400,000 square feet of laboratory and research space,
and could create as many as 2,000 jobs -many of them the kinds of good, high-paying, skilled jobs that this area needs and has
long sought to attract.
