Official Site of The State of New JerseyNew Jersey Added Jobs in April
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2025
TRENTON – Preliminary labor market estimates for April, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicated continued stability in New Jersey’s labor market. Total nonfarm employment increased by 4,800 jobs to reach a seasonally adjusted level of 4,398,300 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent.
Revised employment estimates for March were adjusted downward by 3,000 jobs (preliminary estimates were -2,700). The state’s unemployment rate for March remained unchanged at 4.7 percent.
In April, five out of nine private industries recorded employment gains compared to March. Those sectors were education and health services (+7,100), financial activities (+1,600), manufacturing (+900), information (+300), and other services (+200). Sectors that recorded job losses include leisure and hospitality (-2,800), professional and business services (-1,900), trade, transportation, and utilities (-1,100), and construction (-800). The public sector added 1,200 jobs for April.
Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 36,000 nonfarm jobs, with 76 percent of those gains in the private sector. Four out of nine private sector industries recorded a gain between April 2024 and April 2025. These include private education and health services (+41,300), other services (+2,500), financial activities (+1,700), and manufacturing (+700). Losses were recorded year-over-year in leisure and hospitality (-4,800), information (-4,400), professional and business services (-3,900), construction (-3,300), and trade, transportation, and utilities (-2,400). The public sector has recorded a gain of 8,600 jobs over the past twelve months.
Preliminary BLS estimates data for May 2025 will be released on June 19, 2025.
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: April 2025
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/.