By David Madden

TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) — Newly released federal numbers put New Jersey’s unemployment rate at 9.8 percent, a full 1½ percent above the national average and continuing as the highest rate in the tri-state.

Gov. Chris Christie has touted what he calls the “Jersey Comeback” to just about anyone who will listen, noting private sector job growth in nine of the last 11 months.

That doesn’t wash with high-ranking Democrats like Assembly majority leader Lou Greenwald of Cherry Hill.

(NJ assemblyman Lou Greenwald. Photo provided)

“His private-sector jobs are not replacing the loss of the public-sector jobs, so he’s being outpaced,” Greenwald (right) says, “and then there’s an additional hidden cost of the number of people unemployed for so long.”

Christie’s office provided an e-mailed statement suggesting that monthly job reports are volatile and that the best way to stimulate employment is to approve tax cuts.

Greenwald’s answer is to work together for real property tax reform.