Kyrillos: The High Cost of Corzine’s Neglect of Economic Development

New Jersey Unemployment Surges to 9.2%

Senator Joseph Kyrillos, senior Republican on the Senate Economic Growth Committee, said today’s report that New Jersey’s unemployment rate surged to 9.2 percent in June shows the state is paying a terrible price for Trenton’s inexcusable neglect of economic development over the last eight years. In addition to having the highest unemployment rate in the region, Kyrillos noted that New Jersey led the nation in new jobless claims during the week of June 27.

“Increasingly grim reports show the painful consequences of eight years of leaders who have deliberately turned their backs on the businesses that create jobs,” Kyrillos said. “New Jersey’s unemployment rate continues to be far higher than any neighboring state’s because Trenton enacted policy after policy that discouraged private sector job creation.”

Unemployment was well above 10 percent in numerous New Jersey cities during the first quarter including Atlantic City (14%), Trenton (18%), and Newark (13%), Kyrillos noted with sadness.

“Residents of our urban areas pay the highest price in suffering for the governor’s neglect of economic development,” Kyrillos said. “This Legislature should be in session today debating economic development measures that will start to bring jobs to our state’s cities.

“Governor Corzine should start the session by calling for the repeal of excessive business taxes and apologizing for the state’s clumsy mismanagement of economic development efforts during his administration,” Senator Kyrillos said.