Since March of 2020, the world has been dealing with an unforgiving global pandemic. Over the span of a year, the economy of many countries, states, and cities has changed for the worse. Many people have lost their jobs, while others have had to close their businesses. Small businesses took the biggest hit, as they had just started or did not have enough of a following to continue making money. So here’s the question, how has covid affect New Jersey’s economy/small businesses? And how is NJ’s economy/small businesses doing currently?

Over the past year many people have lost their jobs, in fact more than 1 million people had filed for unemployment because of the pandemic. The vice president of sales for Fossil Farms, one of NJ’s primary sources of exoctic meats stated, “We have seen a 90% loss in revenue in the last three days.,” Fossil Farms has laid off 25% of it’s staff do to the pandemic. Fossil Farms is not the only business that had to lay off some of their staff. In fact, almost 40% (according to NJ.com) of NJ’s businesses had laid off some of their employees. While employment rates have since recovered, NJ had dealt with a loss like no other. 

Besides employment rates taking a hit, New Jersey’s businesses also took a turn for the worse. In fact, in December it was reported that ⅓ of New Jerseys small businesses had closed. In addition, nearly 73% had suffered revenue losses. Loss of money, unable to provide outdoor/indoor seating, and loss of staff have all contributed to New Jersey’s businesses shutting down. Covid guidelines have since loosened up, and restaurants have been able to provide indoor and outdoor seating. Although a great portion of New Jerseys small businesses had shut down permanently, a number of businesses have reopened and are slowly recovering. 

New Jersey’s economy/small businesses have been doing a lot better. This is mainly because of financial aid and outdoor dining. As well as easing up on covid restrictions, restaurants have begun opening up doors again. Small businesses that have been temporarily shut down, began reopening. Amazingly, almost 365,000 jobs have been recovered as of March 2021. That’s almost 51% of the number of jobs that were lost in March of 2020. New Jersey is recovering, so is it’s people, businesses, and overall economy. 

In conclusion, Covid initially greatly hurt New Jersey’s economy, but thankfully the economy is slowly recovering. Now, back to present day, $100 million of relief has been aimed at helping recover New Jersey’s economy. Hopefully, the money given out to the affected businesses will help greatly, and make a difference. Until then we wait, and try to help our businesses during this troubling time.