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A New Jersey manufacturer plans to expand its export business and may increase its work force thanks to a new program offered by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
The Gluefast Co. Inc., based in Neptune, used the Ex-Im Bank’s new Express Insurance product to insure a small Mexican distributor that was increasing purchases.
“We were just a little bit nervous about the amount of receivables that were outstanding, even though they always paid in under 60 days,” said Gluefast’s president, Lester Mallet, adding that he originally chose to insure his exports to “rest easier with existing sales.”
Mallet worked with Tom Motley, a Trenton-based officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and broker Stu Schechter, of The Credit Insurance Source, in Matawan, to go through the online application process, and in 11 days Gluefast and its customer in Mexico were approved for $250,000 of insurance coverage.
Mallet says the flexibility of picking and choosing which distributors to offer insured receivables, as well as foreign-buyer credit terms and a reasonable price for the policy, were the reasons why he chose to insure his receivables. Mallet had looked into commercial insurance previously, but the expensive all-or-nothing policies were not beneficial to Gluefast.
Mallet also said because of the positive experience he’s had with the Express Insurance policy, Gluefast is expanding its export business, which currently accounts for 20 percent of the company’s $3 million annual sales and is the fastest-growing part of the company’s sales.
The company, with 12 employees, is now able to compete with European companies to provide a pallet adhesive, a…

The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey continues to search for a course for its first golf classic after recently pulling out from Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia as an objection to Donald Trump’s demands to see President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
“We pulled a team together and talked about it, and we felt at the end of the day, that Mr. Trump had been very, very disrespectful with his comments as related to our constituency, and we didn’t feel comfortable going forward with the event based on that,” said chamber CEO and President John Harmon. “He made comments that many of our members did not like the tone … and spirit of his comments as it related to African-Americans in general. I think that’s what was the tipping point.”
Harmon said the decision to pull the June 27 event from the Trump course in Pine Hill was not a difficult one for AACCNJ. Ten sponsors and nearly 60 golfers are still expecting to be on board for the event, and Harmon said he is in negotiations with several other golf courses, and should have a site selected by the end of this week.
Trump National Golf Club-Philadelphia did not respond to an e-mail asking for comment.
Harmon said it would be hypocritical for the chamber to funnel money to the golf course after Trump’s comments.
“The message we’re trying to send with this decision is that we are a viable component of New Jersey’s economy, and we’re willing to work with all sectors of the state to…

The legal community reacted Monday to an agreement by Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Steven M. Sweeney (D-West Deptford) to move forward the year-long stalled nomination of Anne Patterson as an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Under the agreement, Christie will formally withdraw Patterson’s nomination and resubmit it for the seat being vacated by Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto. Sweeney agreed to move swiftly to have Patterson’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and an up-or-down vote by the full Senate, before the end of May. 

Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Steven M. Sweeney announce an agreement on Supreme Court nominee Anne Patterson.

Patterson, 52, is a partner with the Morristown law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland Perretti.Fellow Riker Danzig partner Glenn A. Clark said, “It is great news. We are glad that Anne will finally get a fair opportunity to have her nomination presented, and we think she will be a great candidate for the Supreme Court.”Marcus Rayner of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance said, “We applaud Governor Christie and Senate President Sweeney for coming together to advance Anne Patterson’s nomination and look forward to a thoughtful hearing on her well-qualified candidacy. A strong and fully-constituted Supreme Court is vital to New Jersey’s business community as important issues decided by the court directly impact the economic competitiveness of the state.” Patterson has received a rating of “highly qualified” from the New Jersey State Bar Association. She practices primarily in product liability and commercial litigation in state and federal courts. Richard H. Steen, president of the Bar Association, said,…

New Jersey has a severe shortage of affordable rental housing, according to Out of Reach 2011, a national study released Monday that found an estimated 61 percent of New Jerseyans can’t afford to rent a two-bedroom unit.
A household needs to earn $24.54 an hour to cover rent and utilities for the average two-bedroom unit in New Jersey, according to the report, which said the state is the fifth most expensive rental housing market in the United States, after Hawaii, Washington, D.C., California and Maryland. To gauge affordability, the study assumes no more than 30 percent of income is spent on housing.
The report was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition of Washington, D.C., and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey.
“This data only emphasizes the need for more affordable home choices in our state,” said Diane Sterner, executive director for the Housing and Community Development Network. “How can we expect New Jersey’s economy to bounce back when its work force can’t afford to live here? In order to move our economy forward, we need to create homes and jobs in environmentally appropriate places with access to transit.”
The report said 33 percent of New Jersey households are renters, with rent for a two-bedroom apartment ranging from $1,494 a month in Bergen County to $949 a month in Cape May.
To bridge the affordability gap, many Jerseyans “are in survival mode,” and work more than 40 hours a week to cover living expenses, said Susan Oldroyd Laffler, director of development for Homefirst Interfaith and…

U.S. small businesses added 60,000 workers in April, according to the Intuit Small Business Employment Index, based on companies with 20 or fewer workers using Intuit’s online payroll software. The survey found New Jersey small businesses increased payroll by 0.4 percent last month.
According to the Intuit index, nearly 845,000 new small-business jobs have been created in the U.S. since October 2009. In April, payrolls increased and employees worked more hours and earned more money, according to Intuit.
“Small-business employment is showing continued strength,” said economist Susan Woodward, who worked with Intuit to create the index. “Employment is up across the country. While we have a long way to go to full employment, we have seen continued improvement now for a year-and-a-half.”
According to Intuit, small-business hourly employees worked an average of 109.8 hours in April, up from the revised March figure of 109 hours.
“April registered the strongest increase in hours worked so far this year,” Woodward said. “This is a good sign. The U.S. has 8.4 million part-time employees who would be happy to work more hours.”
Compensation per employee rose in April, partly due to hourly employees working more hours while their hourly wages remain flat, Woodward said. “So despite this slight rise in compensation, the small-business labor market is still soft and employers have room to hire without pushing wages up.”
Laurie Ehlbeck, New Jersey state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the Intuit results are in line with what she’s been hearing. Several small-business owners recently told her they might be ready to…