TRENTON, N.J. – With New Jersey’s unemployment rate still lagging behind the nation at 6.6%, and the state Labor Department asking residents to submit online requests for one-on-one career support, Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen are adding in-person resume assistance to their list of available constituent services.
Along with Sen. Michael Testa, the assemblymen have helped over 4,000 constituents with unemployment benefit issues and have pushed for the Labor Department to fully reopen to the public.
“We truly enjoy being a helping hand to the community in their time of need,” said McClellan (R-Cape May). “Applying for unemployment has been one of the more painful processes during Governor Murphy’s Covid-19 shutdown, and we have been working tirelessly to alleviate some of that stress. Until the Labor Department offers in-person unemployment benefits assistance, New Jerseyans will continue to struggle through this process, but we will be there to help them along the way.”
As families fight to make ends meet and businesses continue to recover from Gov. Phil Murphy’s Covid-19 shutdowns, McClellan and Simonsen want to make sure residents know about their personalized, in-person constituent services.
“When you tell people the unemployment offices haven’t been fully open since March 2020, they are shocked,” said Simonsen (R-Cape May). “Kids are back in schools, people are getting vaccinated, but yet places like the NJDOL are barely functional. They push people online, make them wait weeks to months for a resolution, and now have them competing for an in-person appointment at one-stops. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
Legislative District 1 residents who would like to make an appointment for unemployment benefits assistance or help updating a resume should call the district office at (609) 778-2012.