Introduction

Although, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for NJ, unemployment rates of New Jersey have been considerably stable in 2023, ranging from 3.4 to 4.2 (in percentage of the population), some neighbors of Madison Borough have numbers as high as 15.9%. For this reason, the Madison Environmental Resource Inventory (ERI) observes unemployment in the region and its consequences to the environmental stress of its population. This comprehend multiple economic, social, cultural, geographical and health factors. An unemployed person is someone who is actively on the job market searching for a job.  

Data

The Percentile Unemployment data for the Borough of Madison was curated by the New Jersey Department of GIS, and posted by one of their specialists as one Attribute of “Environmental Justice (EJ) Law Combined Stressor Summary for New Jersey. 

Highest Level: 15.9% unemployed

Lowest Level: around 0% unemployed

Map

fig. 1: Unemployment rates in Madison, New Jersey as seen by polygonic shapes (data from the NJ Dept. of GIS), shown here with areas characterized as Unemployment: Block Group Value (Percent Unemployed)

Results

As can be seen in the map created, there is a wide amount of variety in the colors representing the percentage of unemployment in the town of Madison. Darker Census Block Groups represent a higher percentage of unemployment. 

The median unemployment percentage in New Jersey is 4.2%, and the highest percentage of unemployment in Madison is 15.9%, however this is the extreme value in comparison to the rest of Madison. The average lowest percentage of unemployment in Madison is around 1%, which is less than the New Jersey percentage of unemployment average.

This severe amount of variation causes different levels of environmental stress to its population. 

Conclusion

There is a positive relationship between a lack of employment and environmental stress. Unemployment can be a source of damage to mental health in adults, and can lead to death among populations. That aside, a lack of employment in a town  leads to a higher chance of the town being overburdened by forms of pollution. This can cause health issues for those who are living in the area, especially if they are unemployed and have no means of receiving health benefits should they get sick. The New Jersey Environmental Justice Law was put into place to prevent the overburdening of communities in New Jersey. This is why the percentage of unemployment matters in the town of Madison

About

The “Unemployment: Block Group Value (Percentile Unemployed),” the data used in the making of this map, is an Attribute of the Layer “Environmental Justice (EJ) Law Combined Stressor Summary for New Jersey” by NJDEPBGIS. The information shown is the unemployment rates in each neighborhood of Madison, New Jersey, in percentage.

More information regarding Madison’s environmental, social, economic, and demographic conditions can be found by observing other attributes present in the dataset used, which can be found here. It was last updated in April, 2023.

Authors

Samantha Haase & Luiza Vaskys Lima

Drew University

ENV/BIOL 302 – Geographic Information Systems

Fall 2023

find map online: https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a2124b27446f47239fc6896e495b819b