New Jersey residents are rich. Really rich. We’re the second-richest state in the nation, behind only those people two states to the south in Maryland.
The median household income for New Jersey residents is $69,667. That’s pretty good news.
The bad news: That number is boosted in large part by the state’s ridiculously wealthy families. More than 11 percent of families here have an income of more than $200,000 per year.
On the surface, the Garden State’s ranking of No. 2 on the list of wealthiest states, compiled by 24/7 Wall St., is a positive sign to our economy’s health and future prospects. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll see a much different story.
New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in 2012, one of the worst in the country. The national average was 8.1 percent. The state above us on the rich list, Maryland, had a low unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, for example. Even worse, the number of people on food stamps increased from 8 percent in 2011 to 9.3 percent in 2012.
That is not good news.
Still, our outlook is getting better. As of August, New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 8.5 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the lowest mark since March 2009, when it was 8.3 percent. It also closed the gap between the national unemployment rate, which sat at 7.3 percent in August.
But New Jersey needs to help businesses create more jobs. While the state gained 60,300 jobs in the past 12 months, it lost 1,500 in August. From July to August, more than 12,000 workers stopped looking for work and left the workforce.
That’s not good, either.
Gov. Christie recently revamped the state’s business tax breaks in an effort to add more jobs, but how effective that will be might take time to tell. It’s a good first step, as any incentive to add more jobs is a positive step, as long as the state isn’t digging a deeper debt hole.
The bottom line is our workers need more jobs because the fact is that, while a small percentage of New Jersey families are rich, most are still struggling.
