Christie said he's not closed to all spending beyond what was in the budget adopted in June. For example, he continues to support a bill appropriating $139 million in supplemental aid to cities, despite the disappointing first-quarter revenue picture, so long as the measure contains $1.5 million for oversight. Lawmakers have not passed that spending package.

The jobs measure establishes a program for residents to receive training from employers while collecting unemployment benefits.

The bill allows people to work up to 24 hours a week — for a maximum of six weeks — for a prospective employer who will soon be hiring for the position. It also provides up to $100 per week to defray training-related costs, including transportation and child care.

The bill that Christie vetoed appropriated $10 million for the same program.

"This is an innovative program that will allow out-of-work New Jerseyans to develop the new skills they need and keep them tethered to the work force even in the face of unemployment," Oliver, a Democrat, said in a statement. "It's just the kind of program we need to tackle this recession and help workers and businesses alike to jumpstart our economy and move our state forward."

The bill, called Back to Work NJ, is modeled after a similar program in Georgia.

According to statistics compiled by the Georgia Department of Labor, 10,589 people participated in Georgia Works between February 2003 and January 2010. Of that number, 6,105 completed training and 3,363 were hired either during or at the end of their training. An additional 1,170 people found work within 90 days of completing training.

Monday's vote was along party lines, with all six Democrats on the Labor panel voting in favor of the bill, two Republicans voting no, and the third Republican abstaining. The Senate Budget Committee approved the measure earlier this month.

Assemblyman Jay Webber, one of the Republicans voting no, said he could have supported the legislation if it didn't increase spending in an already constrained budget or if the sponsor had offered a corresponding budget cut to pay for it.

He also said Georgia's program was a victim of its own success: an explosion of participants drove up the cost, he said.

Stephanie Riehl, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the trade group remains concerned that participating employers could risk liability because of federal minimum wage and overtime laws.

Rather than support the bill, the association suggested additional efforts to promote job-matching programs already available through the Department of Labor and Workforce Development that require no additional appropriation.

However, Assemblyman Craig Coughlin, a Democrat, said existing programs had done little to improve the state's stagnant employment situation.

The state's unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in October; it has been above 9 percent all year.

Little has changed fiscally since Christie simultaneously vetoed 14 bills the Democratic Legislature sent him in February, including the jobs bill. He said at the time the combined $600 million cost was unaffordable.

New Jersey's revenue collections were below expectations in October, in part because of a snowstorm that cut power to thousands for several days, and they are 3.4 percent below estimates through the first four months of the fiscal year.

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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Camden.