County Looks to New Industry, Expanded Season to Retain Jobs

This is the first in a series on the county’s economy, job market, and culture. 
No doubt about it: tourism is what keeps Cape May County employed.
Summer visitors bring billions of dollars to spend at local businesses, and even those who don’t directly work in tourism industries see a benefit from the wash of money flowing into this county at the end of the state.
But tourists don’t stay. That means a large percentage of jobs in the county are seasonal. Locals may rejoice as fall arrives and towns empty out, meaning less time stuck in traffic and easier parking. But as those Pennsylvania, New York and Quebec license plates leave the county, so do a considerable percentage of the jobs.
A report from the U.S. Department of Labor put Cape May County’s unemployment rate at 14 percent in January of this year, far above any other county in the state. The same source put the rate in July at 5.3 percent, fairly close to average; higher than some, lower than others.
It’s a fair bet it will climb back to the double digits this winter, and the winter after that, as many workers land steady summer work each year, but rely on unemployment insurance to see them through the winter.
County officials looking to change that pattern see two options, build other jobs, or keep the tourists coming.
Welcome, Shoulder Season
Building the fall tourism market is not a new idea. The Wildwoods set the template decades ago after seeing the impact of the state Firemen’s Convention in September, according to Diane Wieland, Cape May County’s tourism director. 
September weekends are now packed in Wildwood, starting with Roar to the Shore motorcycle rally the weekend after Labor Day and including the Irish Festival, set this year to start Sept. 21, and run through the weekend.
Ocean City’s fall block party Oct. 7 along Asbury Avenue has been built up into a weekend-long event, and almost every beach town in the county packs weekends with special events in hopes of extending the season.
Appears to Be Working
“Most of the visitors come in the summer,” Wieland said. “But 41 percent said they’d come back in the fall.”
The push has been extremely successful, she said, with huge crowds turning out in Cape May area for the West Cape May Christmas Parade and weekly house tours put on by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities, Inc.
In Ocean City, the First Night event celebrating New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day has grown far beyond what Wieland thought was possible. The efforts have had a measurable effect, Wieland said, as shown in the returns from the occupancy tax.
July and August still see the biggest numbers, with $2.6 million and $2.7 million collected each month in 2016, respectively. But the number tipped above $1 million for September for the first time in 2015, according to county data, and the amount is climbing slowly but steadily for other months.
“If it’s First Night in Ocean City, and they sell 10,000 tickets, where are they all staying?” Wieland said. A considerable number of off-season visitors also appear to be second home owners, she said.
All those stays add to other areas of the economy, keeping restaurants open and grocery stores stocked.
High Percentage of Public Jobs
Of the top employers in Cape May County, a large number are public entities.
A rundown prepared by the Cape May County Planning Department put Morey’s Piers at number one, followed by the state-operated Woodbine Developmental Center. The county itself is the area’s fifth largest employer.
The data was gathered in 2013, but Leslie Gimeno, director of the county Planning Department said that the percentages have not changed much since then.
Of the 36 employers listed, 17 are publicly funded, including five school districts, seven towns and federal agencies like the U.S. Postal Service and the Coast Guard.
Many of the others have multiple locations, include Wawa, Acme Markets and other chains, and others are seasonal, at least in part, such as Morey’s Piers and the Cold Spring Fish and Supply Company, which includes the Lobster House.
Number four on the list is Cape Regional Medical Center, employing more than 1,000.
But the list also illustrates another unusual aspect of Cape May County work. Most people in the county work for small businesses.
If numbers include the owners and summer employees, small retail operations dominate the local economy. More than 30,000 people in the county work in private industry, most for businesses far too small to show up on the list of top employers.
A report posted on the county Planning Department’s web page shows more than 10,000 of those jobs are in hospitality, and the same report showed accommodations and food service as the fastest growing sector of the local economy.
Gimeno said that with a relatively small year-round population, even a small change can make a big difference in Cape May County.
“Big numbers of Cape May County aren’t necessarily big numbers for the rest of New Jersey,” she said.
Future Looks High-tech, Low-tech
Hundreds of years ago, Cape May County was founded as home to farmers and whalers, and by the close of the 19th century, summer resorts began to become an important part of the county. According to Gimeno, those elements remain the key to the county’s economy.
The commercial fishing industry remains a big part of the local job market, and officials point out that the fisheries in Cape May Harbor and Wildwood are among the most important on the East Coast. As pointed out, the seaside resorts founded at the end of the 19th century remain vibrant in the 21st, and while agriculture has changed dramatically, it remains an important piece of the puzzle, Gimeno said.
While farmers on the Cape once concentrated on lima beans, peppers and other staples, the economics of farming have changed. Some family farms remain, but added value crops like grapes for winemaking have a far greater potential for return. And a better chance of tying in with those big tourism numbers. Many visitors head to summer farm markets, but as Wieland points out, the markup on a bottle of wine is far more than on a basket of tomatoes. It also allows a visitor to take part of their vacation home with them.
Dr. Richard Perniciaro of Atlantic Cape Community College is studying the impact of beverage tourism for the county, looking at wineries, breweries and distilleries. It’s seen as an extension of ecotourism, sometimes called agri-tourism or beverage tourism.
The county has seen a considerable increase in the number of wineries and breweries over the past decade, and both those in the industry and Perniciaro say the market has not reached saturation. He, and others, say beverage tourism is already bringing new people into the county, without the same dependence on sunny, summer weather.
“A brewery is all year round. It’s good employment,” Perniciaro said.
“Agri-tourism is the first new industry we’ve seen here since Victoriana,” Wieland said. That’s meant a renewed push for more jobs and more investment. Agri-tourism goes beyond wine and beer. Wieland mentioned an increasing interest in local food, which is helping drive the growing oyster industry on the cape. A report for the 2017 tourism conference prepared by her office focused on agri-tourism, and redefining the Cape May County brand to increase the season and focus on agri-tourism.
But is there much chance of year-round jobs that do not depend on tourists coming to visit?
Manufacturing would be limited, Wieland said. Transportation would be a limiting factor.
“It’s one way in and one way out, and it’s kind of a dead end here,” she said of the county. Plus, the county would not want to do anything that could hurt ecotourism. “It’s not going to be smokestacks and big factories. It’s going to be technological.”
Drone Hub?
The county is working to build a hub for the coming revolution in drone (unmanned aerial systems) technology at the Cape May Airport in Erma. By providing a space for innovation and new companies, the hope is to make the county a center for a new industry.
That doesn’t mean the summer economy is likely to go anywhere. The 2017 county report showed more than 40 percent of the jobs in Cape May County were in tourism. When indirect jobs were included, that jumps to more than 60 percent. In all, according to the report, tourists spent $6.27 billion in Cape May County in 2016.
“I don’t think we can walk away from that anytime soon,” Wieland said. The beach is always going to be a big draw, the ocean and the boardwalk.”
The mission is to keep the county inviting for young people as they complete school, to give young families a chance to live and work in Cape May County.
“What we need to do is keep doing what we’re doing, and then expand it for year-round jobs,” she said.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.