Another corporate giant bolts — how many jobs can NJ afford to lose? (Opinion)

🚨 ExxonMobil is gone. How many more warning signs does New Jersey need?

📉 More than 7,600 layoffs have already been announced across New Jersey in 2026, including cuts at Verizon, Merck and Novartis.

🔹 Even some Democrats in Trenton are now warning that New Jersey cannot continue spending and taxing without consequences.

ExxonMobil is officially leaving New Jersey, ending a corporate presence that dates back more than 140 years.

For decades, New Jersey proudly pointed to ExxonMobil as one of the world's most recognizable corporate names headquartered in the Garden State. Now that chapter is officially ending.

Shareholders have approved ExxonMobil's plan to move its legal headquarters from New Jersey to Texas. While much of the company's operational leadership has already shifted south in recent years, the vote formalizes yet another corporate departure from a state that increasingly struggles to compete for private-sector investment.

The move comes at an especially difficult time for Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office promising to tackle New Jersey's affordability crisis. Instead, the state continues to lose major employers and face thousands of new layoffs while businesses cite many of the same concerns that have surfaced for years: high taxes, rising costs, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

Why companies are leaving New Jersey

ExxonMobil executives have publicly pointed to Texas' business climate as a key advantage. Texas offers no personal income tax, lower overall business costs, and a regulatory structure that many companies view as more predictable and growth-oriented.

Business groups argue these departures are symptoms of a larger problem. New Jersey currently imposes an 11.5% corporate business tax rate, the highest in the nation, while companies also face high energy costs, expensive real estate and a complex regulatory environment. The New Jersey Business & Industry Association notes the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in New Jersey has fallen from 22 in 2018 to 15 in 2025.

Exxon executives cited Texas' more business-friendly climate and fewer regulatory hurdles as factors in the move. Samsung is making a similar calculation, consolidating operations in a state known for lower taxes and a lighter regulatory touch.

Layoffs are mounting across the Garden State

The headquarters losses are occurring alongside a troubling surge in layoffs, now on pace to exceed total layoffs announced in 2025.

According to state WARN filings and a recent New Jersey 101.5 analysis, more than 7,600 layoffs have already been announced in New Jersey this year. Verizon, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Prudential, JP Morgan Chase, Merck, Optum and Acme Markets are among employers reporting workforce reductions.

That's what makes the Exxon departure more than a symbolic loss.

When corporate headquarters leave, New Jersey doesn't just lose an office building. It loses executive jobs, support staff, vendors, charitable investments and future opportunities for growth. Those losses ripple through local economies and make it harder to replace jobs that have already disappeared.

Even Democrats are sounding the alarm

What's notable is that concern about New Jersey's fiscal direction is no longer limited to Republicans or business groups.

Democratic Assemblywoman Heather Simmons (D-Gloucester) recently introduced the 'Live Within Our Means Act' (A4447) which seeks to freeze state spending and taxes.

"We grow revenue by growing our economy, not by raising taxes," Simmons says.

She says there is a right way and a wrong way to generate new revenue, and concedes for too long New Jersey has been doing it the wrong way.

Simmons contends, "There is increasing consensus, from the Governor’s office and colleagues in the Legislature, that new revenue must come from economic growth, not from raising taxes."

Those are admirable goals, but it is the polar opposite of what Democratic leadership has done in the legislature for the past two decades.

Indications are that Simmons proposal has fallen flat with Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. Not surprising since Coughlin has been one of the biggest tax raisers is Trenton for the last decade.

New Jersey's competitiveness problem isn't going away

One company leaving does not define a state's economy. But when the departures keep piling up and the reasons sound remarkably similar, policymakers need to pay attention.

ExxonMobil's exit is more than a symbolic loss. It is another reminder that companies have choices. They can expand, invest, and create jobs wherever they believe conditions are most favorable.

Right now, that is not in New Jersey.

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