On Jan. 9, Elizabeth Matsutani said she received her last unemployment check for $414, exhausting the benefits she’s relied on since April after she lost her job as an administrative assistant due to the coronavirus pandemic.
New Jersey is the only state in the nation to see the number of new coronavirus cases drop in the last two weeks, but the pandemic’s financial impact continues to grow, according to a new Rutgers study.
The economic freeze, fueled by coronavirus restrictions that shut down businesses for months and urged residents to stay home, has found the Garden State experiencing historic losses and rebounds that would typically take years happen in just a few weeks.
James Hughes, economist and University professor at Rutgers University, warns the unstable economy is a “life force of its own.”And that, he s… Read the rest of this entry »
Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, PhD, (R-Monmouth) is forgoing his legislative salary until the unemployment insurance claims of his LD-13 constituents are fulfilled.
TRENTON — New Jersey’s unemployment rate fell two percentage points in February, even as the state recorded a loss of more than 10,000 private-sector jobs. The state also gained 1,600 public-sector jobs in February, bringing the total job losses to 8,600. But the February unemployment rate, 4.3 percent, is the lowest since pre-recession August 2007, according… Read the rest of this entry »
New Jersey shed 6,400 jobs in March, according to new federal data, with the biggest losses posted in trade, transportation and utilities and professional and business services. The state’s unemployment rate ticked up last month as well, increasing to 6.5 percent, the preliminary data released by the state labor department on Thursday shows. That’s up from… Read the rest of this entry »
Alain Chahine lost his job two years ago. Since then, he said, he has completed more than 600 applications and sent 200 messages to his network looking for leads. Those efforts produced 18 interviews in 2013, 35 more in 2014 and 12 so far this year, Chahine said. But the number of full-time job offers to… Read the rest of this entry »
Five former state inmates have been charged with stealing approximately $100,000 in unemployment insurance benefits while they were in county jails and ineligible to receive them, the state Attorney General’s office said today. The inmates, along…
Unemployment rose slightly in New Jersey last month as the state lost about 1,300 jobs, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The private sector shed 700 jobs, according to the report, and the public sector lost 600…
Legislation that would eliminate the scheduled 10% surcharge on employers’ unemployment insurance tax was cleared by the Assembly Labor Committee today.
The bill, A-4112/A-3675, sponsored by Assemblywomen Amy Handlin (R-13, Monmouth) and Alison Little McHose (R-24, Hunterdon, Morris, Warren and Sussex), postpones the implementation of the surcharge, which is currently scheduled to go into effect on July 1, for one year. An identical bill, S-2404, passed the State Senate unanimously in February.
The Office of Legislative Services estimates that eliminating the surcharge will save employers $300 million in the coming fiscal year.
“The timing of this legislation is critical as we approach the summer season and with the effort to restore the Jersey Shore well underway,” stated Handlin. “Rebuilding communities involves both residential and commercial redevelopment. Companies who invest in our economy would face significant unemployment insurance increases which could impact their hiring decisions. This legislation ensures that the strides made in putting people back to work will not be affected by the cost increases that would have been felt under this surcharge.”
As Governor Christie has often said, Republicans underestimate President Barack Obama at their own peril.
Using the authority granted to him in the ObamaCare bill that had to be passed before America could find out what was in it, Obama mandated that contraceptives be covered by all health insurance plans, including those provided by employers affiliated with religions that are morally opposed to contraception.
Obama laid a trap for Republicans. They fell for it like a horny teenage girl whose boyfriend promised her he would pull out. It’s almost too late to reverse the consequences.
Now the national debate is over contraception. Not unemployment. Not foreclosures. Not war. Not terrorism. Not the price of gasoline. Not the national debt. Not the mandates of ObamCare. We’re having a national debate about contraception. Republicans have been framed as anti-contraception and as too far out of the mainstream to be a relevant political party.
Republicans could have framed this debate in context of their commitment to repeal ObamaCare if the law is not overturned by the Supreme Court. Instead they got into a national debate over contraception that will hamper, if not destroy, their chances of winning the White House and/or the Senate, even if the Court overturns ObamaCare.
Republicans in Washington and on the presidential campaign trail need to stop talking about contraception. They don’t have the votes to stop what Obama is doing. If they keep doing what they are doing, they never will.
