Call it what you want-the country hates the ny area and refuses to acknowledge that irresponsible borrowers in carolina and ohio are just as at fault as bad lenders (I think more). Plus, we have the benefit of the habitually unemployed sucking the county dry. Gotta love the felon population.

Read more on the unemployment rate in Jersey City in our report from last week:

Jersey City's Unemployment Rate Rises Again in January

Also check out trends over the past 10 years.

IT'S GETTING WORSE Hudson's rate higher than N.J., nation

Monday, March 23, 2009
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

When Boris Arce of Union City lost his job last month, he joined a growing number of Hudson County residents: In 2008, 9,400 more people became unemployed in the county, a number nearly equal to the entire population of Guttenberg.

"It's going to be a few months before I get anything," Arce, 33, said recently, standing in line to sign up for unemployment benefits in Jersey City.

According to unemployment figures for January, the most recent made available by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Hudson County's unemployment rate was 8.6 percent, slightly ahead of the nation's 8.5 percent and well ahead of the state's 7.9 percent for January.

Hudson County spokesman Jim Kennelly said it is no shocker that county unemployment figures are worse than the state.

"Historically over the last 20 years, Hudson County always lags slightly behind the state as a whole," he said. "We're not pleased about it."

Kennelly said the county suffers more than the state because it depends on the financial sector, a result of the steady decline in manufacturing jobs since the 1970s. "The problem is that when Wall Street sneezes, Hudson County catches a cold," he said. The bank crisis last year was particularly tough on the county.

According to Keith Davis, executive director of Jersey City's Employment and Training Program, the county's financial sector cut 8 percent of its jobs. "That's a lot of professional individuals who have worked for their whole lifetime," he said.

Many Hudson County municipalities saw their rates in December 2008 compared to December 2007 nearly double - and those rates grew again after the holidays ended.

Kearny's unemployment rate grew the most, from 4.6 percent in December 2007 to 8.5 percent in December 2008. By January, it grew to 10.8 percent. Within the county, only Union City's January 11.4 percent unemployment rate is higher.

Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos said Kearny, with its heavy reliance on construction and heavy industry for employment, has been hit hard.

"Communities like Kearny, which is more blue collar, have been feeling it for a longer period of time" than white-collar neighborhoods, he said.

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Long search for work

Monday, March 23, 2009

Roger Williams visits the One Stop Career Center in Jersey City about once a week to search for job openings online with the center's computers.

He last worked as an office manager for Citco Fund Services in Exchange Place six months ago. "You have to go far out there to find work," said Williams, a resident of Jersey City.

A father of three children living at home, Williams is trying to get back into a job where he can use his training as a cardiovascular technician.

Engaged to be married, Williams said supporting his family has been difficult. They now buy less food and visit relatives less frequently to save on transportation costs. Soon his unemployment benefits will run out, he said.

Coping with unemployment is also a mental and emotional challenge.

"You get kind of bored when you're home. I'm a motivated person, and I don't want to lose that," Williams said.

TOM SHORTELL