New Jersey headed toward ‘consistent economic recovery’

Weekly unemployment claims in New Jersey increased by about 2.6% compared to the same week in 2019 but are down by 55.4% compared to the start of 2020.

According to a new analysis by WalletHub, the uptick from 2019 marks the seventh smallest increase in the country. Compared to last year, the decrease is the 14th biggest nationwide.

“New Jersey’s unemployment claims recovery is currently the eighth quickest,” Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst, told The Center Square.

“The number of unemployment insurance initial claims is only 2.66% higher than the same week in 2019,” Gonzalez added. “Compared to the beginning of 2020, the number of unemployment insurance initial claims has dropped by over 55%. This means that New Jersey is on its way to consistent economic recovery.”

New Jersey’s weekly unemployment claims decreased by more than 69.9% compared to the same week last year, the 17th biggest decrease in the country.

According to WalletHub, the expiration of extended federal unemployment benefits should help lower unemployment.

“Some people were making more money while unemployed than they did when they were employed, but that will no longer be the case,” WalletHub quoted Gonzalez as saying. “Therefore, those people will have more of an incentive to seek out employment to make up for the drop in income.

“Currently, the U.S. has more job openings than unemployed people, so people brought back to the workforce by the expiration of the extra benefits will have many opportunities to get hired,” Gonzalez added.

This article was originally posted on New Jersey headed toward ‘consistent economic recovery’