NJ Jobs Up, as Morristown Adds More Business

The number of jobs in New Jersey expanded for the third consecutive month in April, according to a statement released this week by the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

In total, New Jersey saw an increase of 14,000 jobs, with the vast majority of the gain in the private sector, according to the press release. Employment in the Garden State has now increased by 32,000 jobs since January of this year.

This comes as welcome news to Michael Fabrizio, executive director of , which serves as the business association in Morristown.

"We are experiencing our own job growth in town," he said. "Not as much as people would like it to be, but it's there. It's our own microcosmic job growth."

including several new restaurants in the 40 Park luxury development along the Green, as well as elsewhere, with other businesses within the next several months.

Despite the apparent recent uptick in new business–which means new jobs–in Morristown, Fabrizio said the town has actually kept its head above water for a while, noting the business vacancy rate "has been under 5 percent for a long time.

"[There have been] four dozen, five dozen businesses [open in Morristown] in the last two years," he said. "We've had quite a bit of growth."

Many of the businesses opening in town have been of a similar kind, such as the many restaurants that have planted roots here. Fabrizio said he expected a "diversity of retail growth" to be the next step.

"For the moment, we're thrilled that our vacancy rate is so low," he said. "There is a significant amount of investment going on in Morristown."

Despite the increase in jobs throughout the state, New Jersey's unemployment rate in April remained at 9.3 percent, as the overall workforce continued to grow with previously discouraged workers reentering the labor market, as is expected early in an economic recovery, according to the press release. The U.S. unemployment rate increased from 8.8 to 9 percent during April.

Preliminary estimates indicate that total "nonfarm" wage and salary employment in New Jersey increased in April to 3,860,900, as measured by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) through its monthly employer survey, according to the press release. Private sector businesses added 13,400 jobs over the month.

“The private-sector job gain is extremely encouraging, with the fairly substantial increase showing that the recovery may be gaining a bit of momentum, and pickups in sectors such as manufacturing and retailing suggesting that a larger cross-section of the state’s economy is starting to benefit,” Charles Steindel, chief economist for the New Jersey Department of Treasury, said in the release.

In April, the job growth leader was the trade, transportation and utilities industry supersector which added 8,300 jobs, according to the release. Job losses were reported for information, financial activities, professional and business services and other services.