newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOSHUA HENNE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

New Jersey's latest unemployment numbers show the state continuing to lag the national average by a full two percentage points. While America's unemployment dipped below 8 percent to hit 7.8 percent in September, New Jersey's unemployment stands at 9.8 percent — just a breath away from double digits.

Things simply aren't getting better in New Jersey in any meaningful way on the jobs front on Governor Chris Christie's watch. Clearly, creating jobs for New Jersey residents isn't a priority for Christie. Rather than focusing on the job here at home, he's travelled all across the country sewing seeds for his own future. Since Labor Day alone, Christie's been stumping in such far flung-states as Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Montana, Massachusetts, Washington, Ohio, North Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, and Indiana.

Ironically, just yesterday, Christie's itinerary in Indiana included a visit to a distribution center for Express Scripts — a pharmaceutical benefits company whose merger with Medco Health earlier this year cost New Jersey 258 jobs in Franklin Lakes, Montvale and Fair Lawn.

For nearly three years, Christie has had his way… and the Christie way is clearly not working. Christie has no jobs plan — aside from laying off workers in the public sector and cancelling projects like the bi-partisan supported ARC Tunnel that would have created jobs. He handed tax breaks to multi-millionaires, but the “job creators” simply are not creating jobs in Christie's New Jersey. His policies have done little to nothing to avert plant and office closings. Sadly, New Jersey ranks a dismal 47th in jobs — and that was before these latest numbers were released.

Since Governor Chris Christie took office, New Jersey has consistently trailed the rest of the nation when it comes to jobs. And the trend lines are only getting worse.

If only Christie cared as much about stemming job loss at home as he did promoting his own future job and personal agenda out-of-state, perhaps New Jersey wouldn't be staring at near-double-digit unemployment. Maybe that's something for Christie to ponder as he heads to Pennsylvania and Connecticut over the next few days.

Joshua Henne is a Democratic strategist and the spokesman for One New Jersey. Reach him on Twitter @JoshuaHenne.

One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter (@OneNJ) or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.

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