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Department of Labor & Workforce Development

New Jersey Job Growth Continues in April

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2022

TRENTON – New Jersey’s employment growth continued for the 17th consecutive month in April, as non-farm employment increased by 14,800 jobs to reach a seasonally adjusted level of 4,191,500, while NJ’s unemployment rate declined to 4.1 percent.  

Job growth so far in 2022 has averaged nearly 18,700 jobs per month and the unemployment rate has fallen from 5.1 percent recorded this past January. New Jersey has now recovered 695,700 jobs, or about 95 percent of the number lost in March and April 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Based on more complete reporting from employers, the previously released total nonfarm employment estimates for March were revised higher by 1,500 to show an over-the-month (February – March) increase of 19,300 jobs. Preliminary estimates had indicated an over-the-month gain of 17,800 jobs. The March upward revision occurred entirely in the private sector. The state’s March unemployment rate was unchanged 4.2 percent.

In April, employment increases were recorded in eight out of nine major private industry sectors. Sectors that recorded job gains include leisure and hospitality (+4,700), trade, transportation, and utilities (+4,400), education and health services (+4,200), other services (+1,200), professional and business services (+1,000), manufacturing (+800), financial activities (+500), and information (+300). Construction (-2,600) was the only sector that decreased from the prior month. Over the month, public sector employment increased by 200 jobs. 

Preliminary BLS data for May will be released on June 16, 2022. 

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/.

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