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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
In New Jersey as elsewhere this prosperity vanished with the crash in
1929. The State, which had been increasing its industrialization at a terrific
rate since 1900, suddenly halted and backslid, s0 that by 1932 its formerly
busy industrial sections became silent witnesses of reckless spending and
general lack of planning. Shantytowns built of galvanized iron, packing
boxes, and other materials salvaged from dumps sprang up in front of
idle factories, and relief became the real industrial problem of the State.
The situation gradually improved. By 1934 recovery slowly began to
make itself felt throughout the paralyzed industrial structure. Production
in 1937 reached pre-depression levels in some fields, greatest gains being
made in the electrical, iron, steel, and aircraft industries. Widespread layoffs in the latter part of the year, characterized as a "recession," interrupted the period of the "little prosperity."
Latest available figures (the 1935 Census of Manufactures) report 377,078 wage earners in New Jersey, receiving $397,170,661 in 7,468 establishments, the total value of manufactures being listed at $2,439,426,000.
These figures represent an increase of 21.3 percent in number of wage
earners and 43.6 percent in value of manufactures over 1933. The State
has ranked sixth in the Union for industrial production since 1850.
The most important New Jersey industries ranked according to the
value of annual output by the 1935 Census of Manufactures are petroleum
refining, copper smelting and refining, chemicals, electrical supplies, dyeing and finishing, paints and varnishes, clothing, rubber goods, and foundry
products. On the basis of the number of workers employed, dyeing and
finishing of textiles holds first place with 16,961 employees.
The State ranks first in the Nation in smelting and refining of copper,
dyeing and finishing of textiles, and the production of rubber goods (other
than tires). It is second in the manufacture of silk and rayon and chemicals.
The greatest concentration of industry is in Newark and the surrounding area, including Jersey City, Paterson, Passaic, Elizabeth, and Bayonne.
Centers of industry outside the metropolitan area include Camden and
Trenton on the Delaware River and Perth Amboy on Raritan Bay. Although the "company town" as such is rare in the State, many small communities surrounding the large cities depend solely upon two or three
factories or plants for their economic existence.
Petroleum refining, with a yearly output valued at $157,000,000, is
centered in Bayonne, where four large companies maintain huge plants to
which oil is piped from the Middle West. Three enormous copper and
lead smelting firms and a score of smaller gold, silver, and platinum plants
constitute the rich refining industry, with annual production valued at
$182,000,000. About one-sixth of the zinc in the United States is mined
at the New Jersey Zinc Company's plant at Franklin.
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