New Jersey has largest jobs gain since December 1999
January 17, 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Private employers in New Jersey added 30,900 jobs in December, the largest single monthly gain since the current system of employment tracking began in 1990, the state Labor Department reported Thursday. The Labor Department said that figure represents the largest over-the-year private sector increase in jobs since December 1999 to December 2000, when more than 64,000 jobs were added.
Job gains were reported in all of the state’s nine major private industry sectorsincluding a jump of 6,000 jobs in transportation and utilities.While Public employment (state jobs) dipped by 700 for the month, still leaving New Jersey with a jump in overall employment topping 30,000.
The Christie administration swas quick to point out the new figures show the trend in job creation and economic growth that remains positive though the state but still has a long way to go.
According to the Christie administration , “With revisions to November’s job numbers, we know that New Jersey lost more than 10,000 jobs as a result of Hurricane Sandy, not to mention the widespread devastation it wrecked on our people, infrastructure and economy. December’s report begins to tell a different tale — one that confirms the resilience of New Jerseyans and the speed with which we have begun to emerge from the storm,”
New Jersey’s jobless rate still remains stubbornly high at a whooping 9.6 %. nearly 2 percentage points higher than the national rate of 7.8 percent for December.
The state had previously reported an identical jobless rate for November. But November’s number was adjusted upward to 9.7 percent.
Even better news was that labor participation rate in New Jersey continued to rise in December, up to 66.2 percent,according to the Labor Department , several points higher than the national rate.
Those figures affect the jobless rate, because the government only counts as unemployed those actively searching for work.
A preliminary analysis shows that from December 2011 to December 2012, employment grew by 48,000 jobs, with the private sector accounting for for an overwhelming majority of the new jobs created in the state with more than 46,000.
