On Thursday, the Department of Labor & Workforce Development announced the state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 4% in August, but New Jersey saw its 21st consecutive month of job growth.
Payrolls expanded by 15,400 jobs, almost all in the private sector. Through the past three months, employment growth averaged 12,700 jobs per month, according to estimates.
New Jersey has reached a seasonally adjusted level of 4,241,200 jobs in August. Private-sector employment grew by 12,200 jobs, representing growth of 15,500 per month in 2022.
The revised July nonfarm employment estimates increased by 7,500, to an over-the-month increase of 13,800 jobs. Preliminary estimates had shown a rise of 6,300 from June to July. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%.
In August, employment increases were recorded in six out of nine major private industry sectors. Over-the-month gains were recorded in:
- Trade, transportation, and utilities (+5,400);
- Education and health services (+4,200);
- Construction (+2,600);
- Professional and business services (+900);
- Information (+800), and
- Financial activities (+500).
The three sectors that recorded employment losses were leisure and hospitality (-1,000), manufacturing (-600) and other services (-600). Month-over-month, public sector employment increased by 3,200 jobs.
