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Tags5,000 joined public payroll in December, January
BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
At least 13,300 New Jerseyans found employment in January but another 8,100 were thrown out of work, leaving a gain of 5,200 jobs for the month, according to figures released Thursday by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The figures mean 3,887,900 people are employed, another 413,600 are jobless, and the unemployment rate stands at 9 percent, down 0.1 percent when compared to December.
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In January, employment gains were recorded in both the private - 10,700 jobs - and government - 2,600 jobs. The largest gain occurred in the education and health services - 9,500 jobs as 5,600 people found work in educational services and 3,900 obtained jobs in health care and social work.
In January and December, there was a overall gain of 5,300 jobs, a period when 5,000 people found work on the public payroll, including 1,900 with the state government.
“January’s strong gain in payrolls shows that the state’s economy is moving forward: employers are hiring, state Chief Economist Charles Steindel said. “Moreover, the figure showing that 60 percent of New Jersey residents are at work is a point and a half higher than the national average.”
Other employment gains in January included manufacturing 4,000, other services 2,000), trade, transportation and utilities 1,500 and construction 1,100. Job losses occurred in professional and business services 6,500, information 1,200 and financial activities 400. Labor officials maintain the loss of 6,700 jobs in professional and business services was mainly due to job contraction in the administrative support, waste management/remediation segment.
Over the month, the unadjusted workweek for production workers decreased 0.2 hours to 41.2 hours, average hourly earnings were lower by $0.17 to $19.52 and weekly earnings declined by $10.95 to $804.22. Compared to January of last year, the unadjusted workweek increased by 1.5 hours, average hourly earnings increased by $0.40 and weekly earnings were higher by $45.16.
