Another push for N.J. jobs bill

The leader of the New Jersey Senate is making another attempt to get a jobs creation bill passed.

Because a lot of companies are still reluctant to increase their workforce, said Senate President Steve Sweeney, his bill would give small businesses a payroll tax credit for hiring a full-time worker who has been unemployed for at least a month.

“There are a lot of people that have been unemployed for periods of time that have great track records and are hard-working people that have great working histories that just ran into bad economic times,” said Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

More workers, he said, will benefit the state.

“You have a lot of businesses right now that are hedging whether they want to hire or not hire. By providing an incentive to put someone back to work to me is a win for one reason — we’re not getting any taxes from these people now,” Sweeney said. “They’re unemployed. We’re not getting the benefit of these people going to work.”

Lawmakers passed the bill in the previous legislative session, but Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed it and recommended that the state labor commissioner review whether a tax-incentive program would be effective in increasing long-term employment.