The number of jobs in New Jersey increased by 14,000 during the month of April, the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Thursday. It was the third consecutive month during which the Garden State recorded job growth.

The state added 13,400 private-sector jobs and 600 public jobs, while the unemployment rate remained 9.3 percent.

The private-sector job gain is extremely encouraging, with the fairly substantial increase showing that the recovery may be gaining a bit of momentum, and pickups in sectors such as manufacturing and retailing suggesting that a larger cross-section of the state's economy is starting to benefit, said Charles Steindel, the chief economist for the New Jersey Department of Treasury, in a statement.

Some industries, including information, financial activities and business services, lost jobs in April. The trade, transportation, and utilities industry group added 8,300 jobs, by far the largest increase of all industries in the state.

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