The State of the Garden State

New Jersey has its own version of the monthly consumer confidence report with the quarterly consumer survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University's Silberman College of Business. The latest version showed that a frightening 53 percent of New Jerseyans still say they are worse off now than they were a year ago. As high as that sounds, it's down six points from the previous quarter. Not surprisingly, the hardest cases are at the bottom of the ladder: 65 percent of those making less than $50,000 a year say they're worse off than a year ago.

Credit remains tight in our state: 86 percent of consumers say they will not let their unpaid credit card balances increase, and even among the well-off, just 2 percent of those making over $150,000 say they'll let their credit card balances increase. It seems very telling that even the more comfortable are remaining cautious in their spending. Overall, more than 36 percent of Garden Staters say that paying their outstanding credit card balances is somewhat or very difficult.

For those who might still be in danger of losing their jobs - New Jersey's jobless rate is 9.8 percent, same as the national average - 48 percent say they could live off their savings for more than six months if necessary. But the number who say they could live for less than three months off their savings rose by 6 percentage points from the previous survey. Life may slowly be getting better around here, but it is still very precarious.