Unemployment rate rises a tick in New Jersey

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's unemployment rate rose a tick in August to 6.6 percent as more people looked for work and the number of people with jobs dropped slightly.

The state Labor Department released its preliminary monthly report Thursday.

The report finds that employment decreased in construction, trade, transportation and utilities and the public sector. There were gains in jobs in manufacturing, education and health services and business and professional services.

Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday that the report does not indicate that the state's economy is heading in the wrong direction.

Since August 2013, the state's unemployment rate fell by 1.5 percentage points as 40,000 more people got jobs and nearly 33,000 stopped left the labor force.

New Jersey's unemployment rate remains above the national rate of 6.1 percent.

Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at CohnReznick in Roseland, said New Jersey's jobs picture right now is a mosaic of good and bad, depending on your perspective.

"We expected that the second half of the year, and the fourth quarter in particular, would see a pickup in the pace of growth and the pace of hiring here in New Jersey.  There was reason for optimism - household incomes were up, people are feeling a bit more confident in the economy.  Nationally, jobs growth had picked up, and here in New Jersey for the past few months, we had seen some positive performance on the jobs front."

But there is a downside as well, according to O'Keefe. "In the new applications for unemployment in the first week of September, unemployment claims jumped by almost 3,000.  Unfortunately, the last couple of weeks, the slowdown and the closings of the casino industry and some of the data we got today indicated that there was a disappointing pause."

O'Keefe said hiring should increase again. "The couriers, the deliverers from the various places where we buy things online - increase their staffings."

Joe Cutter contributed to this report.