An analyst says new data from the Census Bureau could mean things in New Jersey are as bad as they’re going to get as the state recovers from the Great Recession.

Data from the American Community Survey shows New Jersey poverty rates are still hovering at just above ten percent while incomes remain low.

However, Ray Castro from the liberal think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective says it could mean the state has bottomed out from the recession.

“None of the data in the census that I see shows a recovery. It shows that we’re almost exactly where we were the previous year.”

The survey did show some positive trends. For instance, while the number of New Jerseyans without health insurance hasn’t changed, the number of young adults with coverage increased by almost five percent.  

“That is a positive sign," Castro says, "but on the other hand food stamps remain to be at record levels, our unemployment rate is not changing."

He says New Jersey needs to double its efforts at economic growth if things are going to go get better.