New Jersey Unemployment Rate Dips To 8.6 Percent
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) - For the fourth consecutive month, New Jersey's jobless rate has dropped.
The state Labor Department said Thursday that unemployment stood at 8.6 percent in May, a tenth of a percentage point lower than a month earlier.
Preliminary data show the state added 14,300 jobs.
Job gains in April, however, were not as good as first estimated.
The Labor Department says more complete data show New Jersey added only 900 nonfarm jobs in April, not 3,300 as had been initially calculated.
Despite a drop in the unemployment rate for four straight months, the state's jobless figure stands 1 percentage point higher than the national average. However, that represents an improvement. The state rate had been running closer to 2 percentage points higher than the U.S. average.
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