MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Twenty-five thousand fewer jobs in the financial market, post 9/11 trauma, and telecom troubles in the suburbs will shackle any substantial rebound in the short term. But the forecast isn't all bad. Although office vacancy rates are still near 30 percent throughout the suburban New Jersey hills that were once home to armies of engineers, scientists and other workers for AT&T, Lucent and other telecom companies, office vacancy rates in Manhattan are well under national average and are expected to improve. The Big Apple is also anxiously awaiting the end of the design process and the start of construction for the new World Trade Center project. Pharmaceutical companies in metropolitan Philadelphia and central New Jersey are doing better than other sectors of the region's economy, and will help anchor a recovery. Philadelphia's economy is focused much more on service businesses than the manufacturing that supported it in the past, so it's riding the ups and downs of this market sector with rest of the United States.

ELECTRICAL WHOLESALERS' SALES
(in millions of dollars)EW Estimates Final
1999 Final
2000 Final
2001 Final
2002 Forecast
2003 Forecast
2004 Middle Atlantic 10,683.3 11,049.8 10,571.3 10,409.1 10,396.9 10,962.8 New Jersey 2,962.9 3,064.6 2,931.9 2,886.9 2,883.5 3,040.4 New York 4,418.6 4,570.2 4,372.3 4,305.2 4,300.1 4,534.2 Pennsylvania 3,301.8 3,415.1 3,267.2 3,217.0 3,213.3 3,388.2 EMPLOYMENT STATISTICSActualin thousands EC M C G Middle Atlantic 107,866 1,702.8 10,051.8 2,744.6 New Jersey 26,062 355.2 2,235.1 598.7 Atlantic City 1,227* 5.5 144.4 31.5 Bergen-Passaic PMSA 4,238* 72.6 358.5 74.0 Camden NA 48.2 283.9 81.2 Hackensack NA 48.0 264.0 45.6 Jersey City PMSA 978* 16.8 134.0 39.7 Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon PMSA 4,136* 75.2 346.0 82.8 Monmouth-Ocean PMSA 3,156* 16.5 256.9 66.0 Newark PMSA 9,202* 99.6 543.8 150.4 Patterson-Clifton-Pasaic NA 23.7 94.4 28.6 Trenton PMSA 735* 8.8 123.7 58.2 Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton PMSA 331* 10.6 26.0 13.6 New York 52,130 618.0 4,748.2 1,451.1 Albany-Schenectady-Troy MSA 2,037* 27.6 244.5 104.8 Binghamton MSA 611* 17.3 52.3 20.4 Buffalo MSA 2,033* 69.3 287.6 87.4 Dutchess County PMSA 713* 16.6 62.5 22.9 Elmira MSA 226* 6.8 20.1 7.0 Glens Falls MSA 187* 7.2 31.2 9.6 Nassau-Suffolk PMSA 8,216* 86.3 682.3 192.5 New York PMSA NA 162.9 2,456.6 663.8 New York City ^^ 29,463 130.8 2,140.6 573.1 Newburgh PMSA 1,005* 9.1 70.3 27.8 Rochester MSA 2,628 85.2 279.5 77.2 Rockland County 1,155* 11.5 61.4 20.1 Syracuse MSA 1,443* 39.4 175.8 61.9 Utica-Rome MSA 417* 14.4 71.2 27.9 Westchester County 3,385* 19.2 241.6 66.0 Pennsylvania 29,674 729.6 3,068.5 694.8 Allentown-Bethlehem MSA 2,209* 43.2 152.5 31.3 Altoona MSA 356* 8.8 30.9 8.1 Erie MSA 695* 25.6 68.2 14.6 Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle MSA 1,466* 36.5 184.4 69.1 Johnstown MSA 301* 9.0 46.0 13.7 Lancaster MSA 1,491* 50.4 112.4 17.7 Philadelphia PMSA 13,885* 230.8 1,402.0 295.4 Philadelphia County 1,062* 36.0 412.5 122.1 Pittsburgh MSA 6,690* 109.9 640.1 119.7 Reading MSA 1,138* 32.8 83.1 17.5 Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazelton MSA 1,295* 43.3 141.2 33.2 Sharon MSA 222* 8.3 26.6 5.4 State College MSA 310* 5.5 28.7 24.7 Williamsport MSA 216* 12.5 24.9 6.7 York MSA 895* 39.9 76.3 15.8 ^^ Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond Counties