January 6, 2026
TRENTON – The most recent employment estimates for October and November, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, show a net loss of 5,300 jobs over the two-month period. Specifically, total nonfarm employment decreased in November by 1,700 to a seasonally adjusted level of 4,396,000 jobs, while October’s estimates show a net loss of 3,600 jobs. Data collection and the release of these estimates were delayed because of the federal government shutdown. Both the October and November employment estimates will also undergo routine revisions.
The state’s unemployment rate for November increased to 5.4 percent, a 0.2 percentage point increase from September. Labor force data for October, including the unemployment rate, are not available due to the lack of household survey data collection during the federal government shutdown.
Revised estimates of total non-farm employment in September show a slight downward revision of 500, resulting in a revised August to September gain of 10,400 jobs.
In November, three out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains compared with October. Those sectors were private education and health services (+4,900), trade, transportation, and utilities (+1,800), and financial activities (+800). Sectors that recorded job losses include professional and business services (-3,600), leisure and hospitality (-2,800), construction (-2,000), manufacturing (-800), and information (-100). Other services recorded no change over the month. The public sector recorded a gain of 100 jobs for November.
Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 20,600 nonfarm jobs as private sector employment increased by 18,800 jobs. Four out of nine private industry sectors recorded a gain, including private education and health services (+28,200), professional and business services (+12,200), manufacturing (+700), and financial activities (+100). Losses were recorded year-over-year in construction (-12,500), trade, transportation, and utilities (-3,200), information (-3,000), other services (-2,100), and leisure and hospitality (-1,500). The public sector recorded a gain of 1,800 jobs over the past 12 months.
Preliminary BLS data for December 2025 will be released on January 22, 2026.
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: November 2025
PRESS TABLES
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/.
Go back to all press releases