Unemployment Is At Record Levels But The Governor Is On The Road For Republican Candidates
Trenton – Senator Paul Sarlo, chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, on Wednesday called on Governor Christie to focus on the economic problems in New Jersey and curtail his out-of-state political trips:
“Unemployment in New Jersey has almost 450,000 people out of work and the governor is on the road again for political purposes. His focus and his priority should be on job creation and economic growth here in New Jersey, where the jobless rate is 9.8 percent.
“Today, he’s in Massachusetts where the unemployment rate is 6.5 percent and in New Hampshire where it is 5.7 percent. They won’t gain a thing from the governor’s visits and, more importantly, the governor shouldn’t be turning his back on New Jersey during this time of economic need. Jobs in New Jersey are far more important than politics in other states.
“We have the fourth highest rate of unemployment, we are 47th in economic output, 45th in the growth of personal income, state revenue is hundreds of millions below the governor’s budget predictions, the credit agencies are warning of a downgrade and the middle class continues to get squeezed.
“We must do better and Democrats are more than willing to work with the governor to get things done. But his refusal to acknowledge the dimensions of the problem is a barrier to progress. In particular, the governor’s claim that he has ‘created’ jobs is twisted math. The facts are unemployment continues to be the highest in decades, far higher than the national average of 7.8 percent and higher than our neighboring states. Since January alone, there are 36,000 more people unemployed. Those numbers have us going in the wrong direction.”