The state of New Jersey is still dealing with a major job drought, even though they recently added another 10,100 jobs to their struggling job market. This comes a month after losing over 36,000 jobs in December, which is the most jobs they lost in one month in the past 23 years of the state’s history, according to NorthJersey.com.


Since only 1/3 of the state’s jobs have returned, it isn’t painting the best picture for the economy of the state. With the 10,100 jobs added, it is only a .26 percent rise in jobs for the entire year.


The Job Market Changes by Industry


For the 2013 year, the job market in New Jersey had some big changes. In the leisure and hospitality industry, they had a rise of 7,500 jobs, education and health had a bigger rise of 16,200 jobs, while financial activities dropped by 2,900. Government jobs rose by 2,800, while professional and business services dropped by 13,900 jobs, construction dropped by 3,300 jobs and trade and transportation services rose by 6,200 jobs. Manufacturing jobs rose by 2,500 jobs and the total unemployment rate for New Jersey in 7.3 percent.


These numbers came shortly after the state Governor Christie announced an economic development and job creation project that has become the priority of his administration. The state is looking toward strengthening their economy by starting with the struggling job market. He said New Jersey had added more than 70,000 jobs in the previous year alone, which also included 24,000 jobs in December 2012. Unfortunately, the most recent report shows different results.


There have been a few minimal warnings about the job growth slowing in New Jersey, including a decline reported by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Regardless of the job market losses, Michael T. Wolf of Wells Fargo Securities said, “I still think that New Jersey is in the right direction. It’s maybe not as rosy as we thought a month ago.”


The job market in New Jersey is changing on a monthly basis, gradually adding more jobs, though at a very slow rate. Their jobless rate is still above the national average at 9.5 percent, above the average of 6.7 percent in the country.


Another reason the unemployment rate might have gone down regardless of how many jobs are being lost in New Jersey, is because of how many people have stopped looking for work. This does factor in with how the jobless rate in the state is calculated. By looking at the number of people who are no longer actively looking for work, or getting government funding like unemployment insurance, that jobless rate could be slightly higher.