By Michael L. Diamond
Originally published in The Asbury Park Press - September 17, 2009
New Jersey is creating jobs again, but not enough to bring relief to thousands or unemployed workers, according to a report released Wednesday by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Experts said the employment trend was heading in the right direction, but they cautioned that tough times await. As if on cue, Meridian Health, the biggest employer at the Shore, said Wednesday it would lay off 33 workers and leave unfilled another 105 jobs because of growing financial pressure.
"We're still in a very high unemployment period," Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow said. "The number of private-sector jobs that we lost will take us a while to gain back. But we're beginning to gain, and we're heading in the right direction."
The monthly unemployment report showed that the state added 2,900 private-sector jobs and lost 2,100 public sector jobs for net gain of 800 jobs. It also showed the unemployment rate jumped from 9.3 percent in July to 9.7 percent in August, the highest rate since April 1977.
The report includes two surveys. The jobs figure comes from a survey of New Jersey employers; the unemployment rate comes from a survey of New Jersey residents. They don't always move in the same direction. The unemployment rate can rise, for example, if more residents say they are looking for work.
One caution flag: The stat revises the figures each month, which can turn a stellar report into a lousy one. In July, for example, the state initially reported that the economy added 5,900 jobs. On Wednesday, it revised the figure and said the state lost 500 jobs.
It can leave the question about the state of the economy open to interpretation. In the heat of a governor's race, both parties took advantage. Democrats sent e-mails praising the private-sector job growth. Republican sent e-mails highlighting the unemployment rate.
Rutgers University economist Joseph J. Seneca said New Jersey's private sector has lost 148,800 jobs, or 4.3 percent of its total, since the recession began in December 2007. By comparison, the U.S. private sector has fallen by 6.1 percent.
Still, Seneca said, New Jersey's job market didn't grow as fast as the rest of the nation's during the economic expansion earlier in the decade.
"Yes, we have lost private-sector payroll jobs at a lower rate than the nation, but in the good economic years we were adding jobs at rates much below that of the nation," Seneca said.
The worst of the recession might be over. CareerBuilder.com, a Chicago-based online job site, said the number of job postings in New Jersey is up 10 percent since May. (CareerBuilder is partially owned by Gannet Co. Inc., which owns the Asbury Park Press).
Frank Wyckoff, president of Snelling Staffing/The Wyckoff Group, an Eatontown employment agency, said orders are up about 25 percent since the beginning of the year, but still down significantly from the same time last year.
"We are starting to see (job orders) trickle back up now," Wyckoff said.
In the meantime, layoffs continue. Meridian, which has 8,500 workers total, said it laid off 14 employees at its corporate office in Wall, 12 at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, and seven at Ocean Medical Center in Brick.
The company, which also owns Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank and has plans to take ocer Southern Ocean County Hospital in Stafford and Bayshore Community Hospital in Holmdel, said it had to cut costs because it is treating more uninsured patients. The past year, it provided close to $70 million in care for the uninsured. It was reimbursed by the state $6 million, Meridian said.
Michael L. Diamond 732-643-4038 or mdiamond@app.com
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