New Jersey Added 19,200 Jobs in September
New Jersey Added 19,200 Jobs in September
Unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent
TRENTON – Preliminary labor market estimates for September, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point from August to 4.7 percent. Total nonfarm employment increased by 19,200 jobs to reach a seasonally-adjusted level of 4,393,100 jobs in the state.
Revised estimates of total nonfarm employment from July to August saw 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 percent.
In September, seven out of nine private industries recorded employment gains compared to August. Sectors that recorded employment gains include 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). Sectors that recorded job losses include financial activities (-600), and information (-300). Public sector jobs increased by 200 for September.
Over the past twelve months, New Jersey has added 51,600 nonfarm jobs. About eighty-eight percent of those gains were in the private sector, with four out of nine private sector industries recording a gain between September 2023 and September 2024. These include private education and health services (+45,500), trade, transportation, and utilities (+11,200), construction (+2,000), and other services (+1,300). Losses were recorded year-over-year in 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 recorded a gain of 6,400 over the past twelve months.
Preliminary BLS data for October 2024 will be released on November 14, 2024.
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: September 2024
Technical Notes: Estimates of industry employment and unemployment levels are arrived at through the use of two different monthly surveys.
Industry employment data are derived through the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, a monthly survey of approximately 4,000 business establishments conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor, which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data broken down by industry for the nation as a whole, all states and most major metropolitan areas (often referred to as the “establishment” survey).
Resident employment and unemployment data are mainly derived from the New Jersey portion of the national Current Population Survey (CPS), a household survey conducted each month by the U.S. Census Bureau under contract with BLS, which provides input to the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program (often referred to as the “household” survey).
Both industry and household estimates are revised each month based on additional information from updated survey reports compiled by the BLS. In addition, these estimates are benchmarked (revised) annually based on actual counts from New Jersey’s Unemployment Compensation Law administrative records and more complete data from all New Jersey employers.
Effective with the release of January 2018 estimates, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program has converted to concurrent seasonal adjustment, which uses all available estimates, including those for the current month, in developing seasonal factors. Previously, the CES program developed seasonal factors once a year during the annual benchmark process. For more information on concurrent seasonal adjustment in the CES State and Area program, see https://www.bls.gov/sae/seasonal-adjustment/.
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