New Jersey's Unemployment Rate Now Among Highest In Nation

New Jersey now has among the highest unemployment rates in the nation, showing little improvement while the nation’s economy has shown positive signs since last fall.

New Jersey had the sixth-highest unemployment rate in the nation in March, tied with two other states, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information released on Thursday.

The placement is a far cry from December 2009, at the height of the “Great Recession,” when New Jersey’s rate was 19th in the nation.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said New Jersey’s unemployment rate in March - the most recent month available - ticked up by a tenth-of-a-point from February’s number, hitting 6.5, according to statistics.

The figure is a sharp drop from the state’s 9.8 rate from December 2009. Yet, while states such as Michigan have seen their unemployment rates drop from double-digits in 2009 to levels lower than New Jersey’s, the state’s unemployment rate has remained comparatively flat, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Polls have shown that the nation is getting increasingly optimistic about the economy with gas prices falling, and the U.S. unemployment rate dropping from 5.7 in October to 5.5 in March.

New Jersey, however, is one of seven states whose unemployment rates have actually increased since October. New Jersey’s rose by a tenth-of-point between October and March, while Michigan’s dropped by a whole point.

Rutgers Professor Steve Miller had two words for why New Jersey’s economy has not replicated the national economy’s positive growth: “Chris Christie.”

Noting the state’s credit rating has dropped nine times since Christie took office in January 2010, Miler said the state could spend more money on infrastructural improvements - such as roads - and higher education that would add jobs to the economy.

“The policies of this administration since the economic meltdown have not done anything to reinvigorate the state’s economy,” he said.

The state’s Democratic leaders also say Christie has spent too much time out-of-state in potential presidential campaign trips rather than staying home and addressing New Jersey’s economy and falling credit rating.

Last week, Christie reacted after Moody’s Investor Service downgraded New Jersey’s credit rating by saying the rating agency had essentially concurred with his own conclusions, according to politickernj.com

“My reaction is that I’m glad that Moody’s agrees with me,” said Christie, according to the report. “If you look at [the Moody’s report], what it says is that if we fix the pension problem, the problem would be fixed.”

Christie has proposed a $33.8 billion spending plan that would make a $1.3 billion contribution to the pension system; Democrats, for the most part, have rejected the Republican governor’s proposal, according to the report.