InsiderNJ wrote an article on WalletHub’s recent ranking of the unemployment rates in all 50 states.   NJ currently has the second-highest unemployment rate at 16.4%, which is up 407% since June 2019, the second-worst recovery.  We all hope that NJ’s unemployment numbers will come down, but if the past is prologue, we have cause to be concerned.

As SPCNJ detailed in its report “Beware the Downward Spiral: The Economic Consequences of New Jersey’s Special-Interest-Dominated Status Quo,” NJ’s high-tax, high-cost-of-living status quo has rendered the state’s economy sluggish and underperforming versus both the nation and neighbors PA and NY.  NJ’s economy rates among the very worst in many rankings and is dead last when it comes to its business tax climate.  That’s why NJ has one of the largest out-migrations of people, wealth and businesses.  NJ’s recovery from the Great Recession was one of the weakest in the country and so it comes as no surprise that the jobs recovery from COVID has been commensurately weak.

NJ’s special-interest-dominated status quo continues to hurt NJ citizens.