New Jersey's economy lost 6,800 jobs in May and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.9 percent from 4.4 percent in April.

stacks of money (Tomislav Forgo, ThinkStock)
stacks of money (Tomislav Forgo, ThinkStock)
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The Christie administration says the May figures were affected by striking Verizon workers, who have now returned to work.

The new report also revised April's figures from initial reports of 7,500 job losses to 1,000.

Most of the May declines came in the private sector, but the public sector grew by 1,700 jobs.

May is the third straight month that the unemployment rate ticked up. New Jersey's unemployment rate is above the national level of 4.7 percent.

New Jersey's labor force participation rate, which measures the number of people employed or seeking work, was 64.4 percent compared with 62.6 percent nationally.

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