New Jersey Employment and Education

The job market is strong in New Jersey. Between 2003 and 2004, over 55 thousand jobs were created. Earnings for the same time period rose 1.3%. In 2005, the state average for unemployment was only 1.4%. That number has since risen and stood at 5.1% in July 2006.

New Jersey has a vast education system. Within 2,469 schools, they spend $13,468 per student annually. This is one of the highest amounts in the nation. Their expenditures prove this is a positive trend with 80% of 4th graders having basic math requirements in 2003 and 86% in 2005. The percent of 8th graders having basic math requirements was 72 and 74 in the same years. The graduation rate is 82.1%.