State government led the charge, shedding about 10,000 jobs since Gov. Chris Christie took office, according to Joseph Perone, a spokesman for the state Treasury. Facing a $2 billion budget deficit, Christie sought to make government smaller and more efficient. New Jersey had 64,760 workers on the payroll in June.
“Christie was part of it, but another part was just the severity of the Great Recession,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.