The U.S. job market continues to defy expectations. The latest evidence of that is from New Jersey-based ADP’s report on jobs on Wednesday. It showed the U.S. economy created 242,000 new jobs in February — higher than forecasts and more than twice the number of positions created in January. The report also showed that worker pay is up 7.2% over the past year. The ADP report comes out a few days before the government’s closely watched monthly employment report, where similar job gains are expected. The robust hiring comes even after months of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, which is trying to slow economic growth to get inflation under control.
For women in the workplace, their paychecks are typically smaller than those of their male coworkers. On this International Women’s Day, women are still earning 82% of what men earn. The gender pay gap has barely moved in the past 20 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis, but there is some progress elsewhere. Courtney McCormick, president of Executive Women of New Jersey, says there is a positive trend of more females on company boards and more women in leadership roles, but it’s white women who are making the gains.
Since NJ Transit launched its mobile payment app about a decade ago it has sold 140 million tickets. But customers who don’t have a bank account or a credit or debit card haven’t been able to buy tickets on the app. That’s now changing. NJ Transit has announced that riders will be able to load cash onto the app at 1,000 participating network retailers places like 7-Eleven, Walgreens or Family Dollar. The cash is then converted to a digital balance, allowing them to use the app to buy tickets.
