New Jersey added 17,600 jobs in the month of May, the largest single month of job growth since 2005.
Those jobs amounted to one out of every four jobs created in the nation in May.
But despite the good news on job growth, the state’s unemployment rate dipped to 9.2 percent, a fact Gov. Chris Christie attributed to rising optimism as more of the unemployed began looking for work.
The state’s unemployment rate remains a full percentage point above the national rate of 8.2 percent.
Gains were seen in both the private and public sectors, with an additional 12,900 jobs created in the private sector and 4,700 in the public workforce. State labor officials attribute the public sector growth to summer hiring at the state and local level.
Previously released April estimates were revised slightly higher, up by 600 jobs, to a gain of 3,200 jobs.