Economic growth in New Jersey has declined to its slowest rate in nearly five years, hobbled by increasing initial unemployment claims and falling housing permits, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported last Wednesday. The regional bank’s latest monthly forecast projected modest economic growth of 0.6 percent through the spring. The nine-month growth rate has not been so low since 0.4 percent was projected in November 2001, when the economy was emerging from a recession but still reeling from the terrorist attacks two months earlier. The bank’s nine-month forecasts, issued each month, have been steadily declining since a 2.5 percent projection in January. “This is certainly consistent with the employment growth data that we’ve seen in New Jersey. We’ve had a pretty dramatic decline in private-sector job growth in the state,” said James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. The descent was fueled by an increase in business taxes enacted under the McGreevey administration, giving the state a reputation for hostility to business, Hughes said. “Corporate America is not about to pack its bags and leave this state,” he said. “But when it has decisions about where to expand, New Jersey is not on the radar screen,” he said. New Jersey is on pace to add about 34,000 jobs this year, less than half the 75,000 it should, and over one-third of the new jobs are in government even though that sector accounts for less than one-fifth of all jobs, Hughes said. The diminished growth rate indicates that New Jersey’s economy is slowing along with the national economy, said economist Ted Crone, a vice president at the Philadelphia Reserve. The rate was calculated after evaluating initial unemployment claims, which rose from 42,412 in June to 45,566 in July; new housing permits, which fell to 1,826 in July from 1,870 in June; and a survey that suggested vendors received fewer orders in July. The Philadelphia Reserve also reported that economic activity in New Jersey rose only 0.1 percent in July from the prior month, and was up 2.2 percent from July. Activity was dampened because the state unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent in July, from 4.9 percent in June, compared to 4.1 percent in July. New Jersey lags behind the national jobless rate of 4.8 percent.