TRENTON, March 22, 2018 – New Jersey added jobs in February, fueled by growth in the private sector, as the state’s unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percentage point to 4.6 percent.

Total nonfarm wage and salary employment increased by 15,800 for the month, to a seasonally adjusted level of 4,178,000, according to preliminary estimates produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. All the job gains occurred in the private sector (+17,000) of the state’s economy.

Based on more complete reporting from employers, previously released total nonfarm employment estimates for January were revised higher by 2,400 jobs to show an over-the-month (December 17 – January 18) increase of 15,400 jobs. Preliminary estimates indicated an over-the-month gain of 13,000 jobs.

Over-the-year February 2017 – February 2018, employment in New Jersey was higher by 63,200, with the majority of the gains recorded by private-sector employers (+62,200). Since February 2010 (the low point of the last recession), New Jersey’s private-sector employers have added 372,400 jobs.

In February, employment increases were recorded in all nine major private-industry sectors. The largest industry employment gain was recorded in the trade, transportation and utilities (+6,700) sector. Gains were also registered in education and health services (+2,400), construction (+2,100), leisure and hospitality (+1,700), manufacturing (+1,700), other services (+1,200), financial activities (+500), information (+300), and professional and business services (+300). Over-the-month, public-sector employment was lower by 1,200 jobs.

Preliminary BLS data for March will be released on April 19th.

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 New Jersey 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 www.bls.gov/sae/saeconcurrent.htm.