25% of May 2012 U.S. Job Creation Occurred in New Jersey

The bad news: the United States added just 69,000 jobs in May 2012, or approximately 60k less than we need just to keep up with population growth (let alone get unemployed persons back to work).

The good news: Roughly one quarter of those new jobs (17,000) jobs were created in New Jersey! Sorry, Lou Greenwald.

Some perspective from our friend Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean, Jr. (R- Union):

The recovery is slow sometimes frustrating, and that is to be expected given the massive deficits and high tax burden passed on by the Democrats in Trenton to this Administration. But the numbers are encouraging. We are creating sustainable, private sector jobs that will add dollars to our economy, and more people are re-entering the workforce.

The fact that we’ve added more jobs in New Jersey than in any single month in the last seven years, and 25% of all jobs created in America last month, shows that path of fiscal discipline and low taxes Republicans and Governor Christie have chosen for the state is working.

The same Democratic leaders who have criticized and politicized the tough choices Republicans have made to turn our state around are now watching their credibility on the economy evaporate.

The Democratic Majority should abandon their desire to return to the days of higher taxes and unchecked special interest spending and join us in doing what is proving to work for New Jersey.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

7 Comments

  1. It is from Shore job hires. Always picks up in May for tourism season, you could set your watch to it.

  2. In 2011, unemployment rose from 9.1% in April to 9.3% in May. That's like 10k less jobs in 30 days. Not saying your completely wrong about seasonal hires but this is good news!

  3. But 9k of the 17k jobs are from Revel Casino which needed $200 million of subsidies from Trenton, not sustainable.

  4. "Our embattled governor was excited yesterday over the NJ Labor Department's press release announcement. Its headline states that in May there was an increase of 17,600 non-farm workers. Christie boasted that the number represents 25 percent of all the jobs created in the country last month, although there were higher increases in California and Ohio, and 27 states had an increase. Don't let the headline fool you. What the press release mentions in the last paragraph is that in May the unadjusted workweek for production workers decreased 0.2 hours, average hourly earnings were lower by $0.12, and weekly earnings fell by $8.82 – not exactly what you would expect in a Jersey Comeback. Private sector jobs grew by 12,900. However, the leisure and hospitality sector, bolstered by the addition of the Revel casino in Atlantic City, accounted for 9,900 of those jobs, and Revel so far is reporting disappointing revenue.

    Positive sounding news is always welcome, but data for any one month is no harbinger for the future. The number of new non-farm workers in the last twelve months increased only by 59,800 – an average of 5,000 per month. Furthermore "In May, public sector employment was higher by 4,700 due mainly to summer season hiring at the local and state government levels." We don't know how much of the private sector increase was due to summer season hiring. Christie boasted that the non-farm increase represents the state's biggest one-month boost in seven years. However, the total May number of non-farm workers remains below the level we enjoyed during the years of 2000 through 2008, so we still have a long way to go.

    The press release favorably interprets the May uptick in unemployment from 9.1% to 9.2% as suggesting more people are re-entering the workforce. One might easily imagine that if our governor had his druthers unemployment would decrease not increase. NJ now has had two consecutive months of unemployment increases – from March's 9.0%, to April's 9.1%, to May's 9.2%. In April NJ's unemployment ranked us 46th, and Over-the-Month Change in Unemployment Rates ranked us 47th. For May our unemployment rate ranked us 47th, with higher rates only in California, District of Columbia, Nevada and Rhode Island. We are trending badly.

    Christie can spin the unemployment numbers all he wants, trumpet the one-month increase in non-farm workers, call the Democrats "pessimists" and complain about "all of the rooting against New Jersey's comeback." However, Democrats like Republicans want a comeback. We just don't see it. "

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