Christie: Unemployment insurance fund has $1 billion balance

Gov. Chris Christie says New Jersey's unemployment insurance trust fund has achieved a balance of $1 billion.

Speaking Tuesday at J.P. Morgan in Jersey City, Christie said his administration's anti-fraud reforms have allowed the state's employers to avoid paying about $200 million in taxes.

The Republican governor says the state's labor department used a number of tools to build up the fund and reduce fraud, including a national directory of new hires and software to detect fraudulent unemployment claims from overseas.

The administration says the trust fund had a peak deficit of $2.1 billion when Christie came into office but moved into positive territory in 2014.

New Jersey businesses faced about $200 million in more taxes in January 2014 under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act.

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