New Year’s advice for job seekers: Persevere

A Rutgers University professor is predicting the job picture in New Jersey will improve in the New Year.

Private-sector employers in New Jersey added about 50,000 jobs in the past year, but the unemployment rate remains at about 9 percent.

Yet, the Garden State’s economy is moving in a positive direction, according to Carl Van Horn, director of the Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers.

“It’s hard to predict, however, a rapid recovery in 2012. I don’t think that’s likely to happen,” he said. “I think it’s more likely to be a steady progress towards lowering that unemployment rate and having an economy that grows at a steady pace.”

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Van Horn says there’s usually a lull in hiring right after the holidays. He advises those who are looking for work to make a New Year’s resolution to keep at the job hunt. He says there are job openings in almost every sector of the economy, just not enough of them to make up for all the losses during the recession.

What advice do you have for job seekers in 2012? Tell us what you think the job picture looks like in the comments section below.

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