ABSTRACT
As in the case of agriculture, New Jersey's manufacturing has moved from a subsistence level in the colonial period to more specialization. The state's present industrial mix and industrial-location patterns reflect many individual and corporate decisions on New Jersey's relative advantages and disadvantages. Labor costs are almost always a critical consideration, but the relative proportion of total costs resulting from labor is highly variable. New Jersey's poor position on industrial raw materials is matched by its shortage of domestic energy resources, a shortage that has been chronic throughout the state's industrial development after 1830. Doubtless the first "manufacturing" in New Jersey was the production of household consumables in the homes of most pioneer families. Alexander Hamilton, first secretary of the treasury, advocated an industrializing United States; he did not share Thomas Jefferson's vision of a nation of sturdy, independent farmers on family-owned and -operated farms. New Jersey's unique blend of location factors is accurately reflected in its changing industrial structure.
