Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget address for the 2025 fiscal year highlighted the economic needs of “the working- and middle-class families of New Jersey” as a principal theme.

“In New Jersey, we are demonstrating that building a stronger economy means cultivating a fairer playing field for everyone. It means supporting, as our administration has, every worker’s fundamental right to collectively bargain,” Murphy said.

In that context, Murphy also noted that from 2022 to 2023, when the percentage of union jobs nationwide remained flat, the number of unionized workers in New Jersey increased by 60,000.

Murphy referred to 60,000 as the “winning number,” as he said it’s also the number of small businesses that have opened in the state since he took office in 2018.

Read the full budget address here.