ut even as New Jersey’s unemployment rate has been ahead of the national average all year, the state lost nearly 2,000 jobs during the first three months of 2016, stumping New Jersey economists.
“I think this is a real headscratcher,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
“There is really no easy explanation for this,” Hughes said while speaking Friday during Rutgers University’s Economic Advisory Service’s semiannual conference.