New Jersey’s Economy Continues to Contract
December 22,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , NJ lost 8,100 jobs in the aftermath of Sandy, the issue continues to be the “anti_business ” climate that surrounds Trenton .
In a report issued by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development New Jersey unemployment rate dipped to 9.6 percent from 9.7 percent. The monthly jobs report is made up of a survey of employers to measure the number of jobs and a survey of households to measure the unemployment rate. They often tell two different stories, but economists lend more credence to the employers’ survey in part because it is far larger.
While Gov. Chris Christie, has been lauded by business groups for improving New Jersey’s business climate the fact is New Jersey is still not a desirable destination for business causing the state’s job market to lag the rest of the nation. The U.S., for example, added a paultry 146,000 jobs in November, and its unemployment rate was 7.7 percent also 2 percentage points lower than New Jersey.
A slow economy is also slowing revenue growth at state levels with the Office of Legislative Services’ preliminary examination of total revenue so far in fiscal year 2013 showing no appreciable growth after five months and the Office of Legislative Services’ is predicting the state needs an 11.9 percent revenue gain to meet year-end projections.
