Business news in brief

New Jersey's unemployment rate continued to rise in September, hitting 9.8 percent of the workforce, the highest in 32 years. At the same time, the number of state residents with jobs fell after two months of gains, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported. The jobless rate was up from 9.6 percent in August and matched the national rate for September, the report showed. The state's unemployment rate was last at 9.8 percent in April 1977. In September, seven of New Jersey's 10 industry sectors posted job losses - with the largest decline coming in construction (4,000 jobs), the department said. Even the health services/

education sector, which typically increases employment month-to-month, lost 1,000 jobs in September. The state's total number of jobless people rose 8,000 in September to 444,900. - Paul Schweizer

Boeing Co. and the union representing a third of the workers at the company's Rotorcraft Systems plant in Ridley Township have reached a tentative contract agreement. Both the company and the union - United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, United Aerospace Workers Local 1069 - indicated that they would not disclose terms of the tentative deal, which would cover 1,789 of the plant's 5,200 employees. The union has scheduled a ratification meeting for Sunday. - Roslyn Rudolph

Gamesa Technology Corp. Inc., one of the world's largest makers of wind turbines, named Dirk Matthys chief executive officer of its North America operations. The company, based in Spain, has 900 employees nationwide, including 800 in Pennsylvania. Gamesa has a plant in Fairless Hills and another in Ebensburg, west of Pittsburgh. - Roslyn Rudolph

A Mount Laurel man who had been a settlement agent at real estate closings was sentenced to 71/2 years in prison for keeping more than $1.7 million in mortgage and tax payments. Jason Bloom, 39, left homeowners, lenders, title insurance companies, and the City of Philadelphia as the victims in the wire-fraud case, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He pleaded guilty July 13. U.S. District Court Judge Curtis J. Joyner also ordered Bloom to pay back $1.73 million. Bloom committed the crimes from at least March 2004 through January 2008, when as owner of A Great Title Co. in Marlton he was a settlement agent and title insurance agent. He also sent checks to financial institutions knowing insufficient funds were available, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. - Roslyn Rudolph

Environmental Tectonics Corp. reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $1.25 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $1.59 million, or 20 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The Southampton company, which makes flight and driving simulators and other devices, attributed the results in the quarter ended Aug. 28 to increased sales and a favorable product mix, coupled with lower R&D and interest expenses. Partially offsetting the latter were some higher selling expenses, and a charge related to refinancing. - Roslyn Rudolph

Milliken & Co., a textile and chemical manufacturer in Spartanburg, S.C., said a subsidiary had completed its acquisition of Rebus Inc., a chemical company based in Aston, Delaware County. Terms were not disclosed. Rebus makes pigment and additive dispersions for the thermoset plastics and high-performance industrial-coatings markets, said Milliken, which added that it expects to keep the operations in Aston. Milliken is privately held, as was Rebus. - Roslyn Rudolph

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported strong third-quarter earnings as its thriving investment-banking business more than offset rising loan losses that the bank warned would continue for a while. JPMorgan, the first of the big banks to report earnings for the July-to-September period, reported a $3.59 billion profit, but it also said it roughly doubled the amount of money it set aside for failed home and credit card loans in the quarter. - AP

The Boston Globe is off the market. The New York Times Co. says it will not sell the newspaper after all, following "careful consideration and analysis." In a regulatory filing, the company said it was still weighing its options for the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. The Times Co. disclosed in August that it had retained Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore a potential sale of its New England Media Group, which includes both newspapers. Company executives later told Globe employees that the newspaper's finances had improved significantly and that a sale was no certainty. - AP

Retail sales declined in September by the largest amount this year as car sales plummeted after the end of the government's popular "Cash for Clunkers" program. But outside of autos, sales were better than expected. The Commerce Department said retail sales dropped 1.5 percent last month. That is smaller than the 2.1 percent fall economists had expected, but still the biggest setback since sales dropped 3.2 percent in December. Car sales plunged 10.4 percent, but excluding autos, retail sales rose 0.5 percent. That's better than the 0.2 percent increase analysts expected. - AP

The House passed a bill, 409-11, to toughen regulations on pilot training, qualifications, and work schedules in response to accidents involving regional airlines. A companion measure has been introduced in the Senate. The impetus was the deadly crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 on Feb. 12 near Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. The flight was operated by regional carrier Colgan Air Inc., of Manassas, Va. - AP

The average seven-day yield on taxable money market funds was 0.05 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to iMoneyNet Inc. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.05 percent this week, down from 0.08 percent last week. - Rhonda Dickey