New Jersey ranks 25th among the 50 states when it comes to the percentage of the workforce that is unemployed and underemployed.

Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, says a new study uses Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers to compile what some people call the "real" unemployment rate, which includes those who have just given up.

"There are these other folks who are not succeeding in the economy," he said Thursday. "If you look at the big picture, New Jersey lagged behind some other states during the recovery."

The "real" unemployment rate adds the basic unemployment figures to those who've given up looking for work they can't get as well as those who are working part time when they really need full-time work.

New Jersey's official jobless rate dropped to 5.1 percent in June. But if you factor in the underemployed or those who have stopped looking, the rate climbs to 9.6 percent.

"Where New Jersey is not doing so well is the longterm unemployment rate," Van Horn said.

New Jersey, at 25th, is ranked between No. 24 Wyoming and No. 26 Ohio. The worst state for combined unemployment is Nevada, at 13.1 percent.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor at New Jersey 101.5.

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