Unemployment As Jobs Creation Program

Here’s a headline that’s a sign of the times: “More Workers Needed for NJ Unemployment Claims.”

The Associated Press story, which ran yesterday, goes on to reveal that the state is hiring 130 additional workers to tackle the baglog of claims created by the economic downturn. (New Jersey’s unemployment rate has jumped from 4.2 percent to 6 percent this year.) Only 44 of those positions are temporary.

To reduce paperwork, they could add a page to these claims asking if applicants don’t want a job screening their own forms.