The productive members for the most part are leaving, and not necessarily by choice; there is little opportunity here, and younger professionals who aren’t tied to mortgages and/or families here are fleeing in droves. NJ is looking at “free tuition” in a lame attempt to keep them here; I don’t know if it will work. In neighboring NY, the “free tuition” has an indentured servitude aspect to it - you must remain in the state one year for each year you’ve accepted “free tuition” -and you can bet you’ll be working those years if you want to survive in these high-cost states. Even if there is no work in your field/area of study, you’d just have to work a McJob or three to get by...
Many, many NJ license plates (recent NJ immigrants) in the Carolinas. I mean lots of them. It’s an exodus!