Strong government hiring counters jobs losses in N.J. private sector | NJBIZ
April 19. 2012 By Katie Eder
Three thousand hires at the local government level helped hold the state's unemployment rate at 9 percent in March, though the state lost 11,600 nonfarm private jobs, according to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
In addition, Labor's estimates for February were revised downward by more than 1,500 jobs.
According to James W. Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, March was the worst month in terms of private-sector job losses since the July 2009 — the first month coming out of the recession.
“Occasionally, you’ll get a strange month, or it could represent something more ominous,” Hughes said. “If it’s positive next month, then it’s an occasional bad number. But if it’s bad next month, then it puts some worry into it.”
Hughes said he was surprised at the gains at the local level of the public sector, given municipalities’ concerns with budget caps and that significant gains or losses usually only appear in September and June.
“Quite frankly, it amazes me that there’s an increase. It must be in schools or county government, because I don’t see it in municipal governments,” said Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
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