Amid casino woes, Atlantic County loses 9,900 jobs in 12 months

The full extent of Atlantic City's economic turmoil showed up in October's metropolitan-area employment report, released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Atlantic County, which is home to Atlantic City, lost 9,900 jobs in the 12 months ended Oct. 31, as four of the city's dozen casinos closed. A fifth, the Trump Taj Mahal, could close Dec. 20.

The next-biggest job loss nationally - 2,200 - was recorded in Davenport, Iowa, and two cities just across the Mississippi River in Illinois.

Atlantic County was also tops in percentage terms, losing 7.3 percent of its jobs in during that period.

The nearby Ocean City region, which is half the size of Atlantic County in terms of its labor force, ranked second, with a 3.4 percent loss of jobs. That loss amounted to 1,400 jobs in absolute terms.

Job losses in Atlantic County have, as expected, spread beyond the casinos to other sectors.

Atlantic City's casinos employed 7,391 fewer people at the end of October compared with the same time 12 months earlier, data from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show. That means 2,509 jobs disappeared from other sectors.

The jobs report, which is based on numbers that are not seasonally adjusted, arrives as New Jersey lawmakers wrestle with numerous economic rescue packages for Atlantic City.

Among the proposals is the restructuring of casino property taxes that would allow them to pay a flat amount of $150 million for the next two years.

That amount, which could change up or down over time, depending on the trajectory of the gambling industry, would be split among the casinos according to a formula that includes acreage, the number of hotel rooms, and gross gaming revenue.

Other proposals would, for 15 years, apply certain existing casino levies to Atlantic City bond payments.

Casino property-tax appeals have led the city to issue $345 million in bonds since 2010 to pay refunds. The appeals came in response to a 2008 revaluation that more than doubled the taxable value of real estate in the city to $20.5 billion.

Most of the increase came from casinos - just as they started suffering heavy losses of customers to Pennsylvania competitors.