Unemployment

The unemployment rate is currently 3.3%, its lowest figure in the state since June 2019 and two-tenths lower than the national average.

Preliminary numbers show that after no change in June, the unemployment rate in New Jersey ticked down two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.7% in July, according to information released by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Thursday.

It was the 18th consecutive month of jobs gains in New Jersey, though the third smallest monthly increase in that year and a half.

As soon as next month, New Jerseyans might be able to make their own appointments for in-person visits to unemployment offices to deal with problems getting benefits.

Still sifting through unemployment claims filed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced what it calls “the first of many improvements” to streamline the filing process.

The state labor department has started scheduling in-person appointments that will begin being held Monday to help people having trouble with their unemployment claims.

At an often-tense hearing in the Senate Thursday, the state labor commissioner defended his office’s handling of jobless claims during the pandemic and cast doubt on how many people will want in-person help at unemployment offices once that starts up in late March.

Democrats joined Republicans in expressing their frustration that unemployment offices and others aren't fully reopened to the public.

Beside COVID concerns, what the high-risk markets also all have in common is that they are high-density, and would be prone to risk even without a pandemic.

Not only will employers soon pay higher payroll taxes, but now the state is paying interest to the federal government on the loan it has to pay jobless benefits.