Unemployment

New Jersey has used millions in federal funding to overhaul its Unemployment Insurance application — cutting down on wait times and frustrations for users.

If you choose to go on strike against your employer in New Jersey, you can collect 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.