Financial meltdown shows up in NJ jobless data

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey employment figures are starting to reflect the worldwide financial meltdown.

The state's Labor Department says New Jersey lost 3,900 jobs in September. About 1,900 of those _ nearly half _ were in the financial services industry.

Despite the drop in jobs, the state's unemployment rate improved a bit. It fell to 5.8 percent from 5.9 percent a month earlier. It remains just below the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.

The only industry where employment grew much in the state in September was health and education.

Over the first nine months of the year, New Jersey has seen about 21,000 jobs disappear. That works out to about one in every 200, about the same as the national decline for the same period.