New Jersey employers added 19,200 nonfarm jobs in September and the state’s unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percentage point to 4.7% for the month, the state Division of Labor & Workforce Development announced on Thursday.
The monthly decline in the state’s jobless rate mirrored the 0.1 percentage point drop in the national unemployment rate, which dipped from 4.2% in August to 4.1% in September.
Viewed on an annual basis, New Jersey’s unemployment rate is now 0.1 percentage point lower than it was in September of 2023, when the state’s jobless rate stood at 4.8%.
In September, seven private industries in New Jersey recorded monthly employment gains compared to August. These sectors included education and health services (+10,100); trade, transportation, and utilities (+3,800); construction (+1,700); leisure and hospitality (+1,500); manufacturing (+1,300); professional and business services (+1,300); and other services (+200).
Job losses occurred in the financial activities sector (-600), and information sector (-300).
Meanwhile, the public sector jobs added 200 jobs in September.
The labor force participation rate, which captures the percentage of working-age people with jobs or looking for work, was 64.7% in September, down from 64.8% recorded in August.
Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 51,600 nonfarm jobs. Nearly 88% of those gains (+45,200) were in the private sector, where 4 out of 9 private sector industries recorded a gain between September 2023 and September 2024. These included private education and health services (+45,500), trade, transportation, and utilities (+11,200), construction (+2,000), and other services (+1,300).
Year-over-year losses have occurred in these sectors: information (-4,700); financial activities (-3,300); manufacturing (-2,400); professional and business services (-2,200); and leisure and hospitality (-2,200).
The public sector has added 6,400 over the past 12 months.
The DOL on Thursday also revised its preliminary estimates of total nonfarm employment from July to August. The revised data showed an increase of 4,500 jobs (preliminary estimates indicated a loss of 4,400), for a net gain of 100 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate for August remained unchanged at 4.8%.
