The state also finally got a boost in December from the all-important business and professional services sector, which contains the kind of high-paying jobs that are key to the health of the state’s economy. Until the addition of 6,700 jobs in December, the sector had been flat for the year — a record that hardly suggests it is ready to jump-start a new boom.
“It’s no economic liftoff,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “But it’s a heck of a lot better than we have been doing.”
