Official Site of The State of New JerseyNJ Nonfarm Payrolls Decreased Slightly in March
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17, 2025
TRENTON – Preliminary employment estimates for March, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed continued month-over-month volatility as total nonfarm employment in New Jersey decreased by 2,700 jobs. This followed a revised gain of 13,700 jobs in February; over the year, New Jersey payrolls have grown by 33,800 jobs. The March unemployment rate was 4.7 percent.
Revised employment estimates for February were adjusted downward by 5,500 jobs, resulting in a monthly gain of 13,700 from January to February (compared to the preliminary estimates of +19,200 jobs). The state’s unemployment rate for February remained unchanged at 4.6 percent.
In March, two out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains compared with February. Those sectors were education and health services (+2,700) and other services (+1,000). Sectors that recorded job losses over-the-month included leisure and hospitality (-3,600), construction (-1,200), professional and business services (-1,000), manufacturing (-600), financial activities (-400), trade, transportation, and utilities (-100), and information (-100). The public sector added 700 jobs during March.
Over the past 12 months, and as mentioned above, New Jersey has added 33,800 nonfarm jobs, with 76 percent of those gains in the private sector. Five out of nine private sector industries recorded a gain between March 2024 and March 2025. These include private education and health services (+35,800), other services (+2,600), trade, transportation, and utilities (+900), manufacturing (+500), and financial activities (+100). Losses were recorded year-over-year in information (-4,900), professional and business services (-4,900), construction (-2,400), and leisure and hospitality (-1,900). The public sector has recorded a gain of 8,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
Preliminary BLS estimates data for April 2025 will be released on May 15, 2025.
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: March 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/.
