How bad is the job market up in NJ/NY?

[titanate]

So my fiancee and I are preparing to get married exactly two months from yesterday. We're both very, very excited. Only problem is, she lives in New Jersey and I still live in Maryland, and we have been enduring the burdens of a long-distance relationship for the last year-and-a-half+. We got engaged in June of '08 and I have been job hunting in her area for the last year+. I have not had too many hits/callbacks/interviews, which has been frustrating.

So I'm asking any of the 'tankers living up in Northern New Jersey/New York area--is the job market up there REALLY that bad??? Is it THAT SLOW up there that jobs are really that scarce to come by? That's what I have been led to believe by several recruiters and contacts up there, but I just don't get why I haven't been able to find anything in the last year of searching. I really don't want to believe that it's my resume, because I can honestly say that I don't think my resume is that weak... are things just that bad up there?

[dsrader]

Good Luck and Congrats!!!!!!!

[MaxGoof]

Things are horrible. My wife has both a bachelor's and a master's in environmental science, as well as experience, and she can't get a callback for ANYTHING. The fact that the NY State Government has a hiring freeze in effect for all state jobs indefinitely does not help at all.

Wish I had more encouraging things to say, but I really don't. You can probably get a job in retail with little difficulty, but professional jobs are few and far between.

[GrimlocksPS]

I live in North Jersey, believe me when i say the job market stinks. Even low paying menial labor jobs are scarce.

[azoric]

People are leaving new York by the busload due to it being a high tax state (like Ohio where I live). I hear the DC area has one of the lowest unemployment in the country.

Congrats. I'm getting hitched sept 19 myself!