Official Site of The State of New Jersey

June 18, 2026

TRENTON – Preliminary nonfarm employment estimates for May, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that New Jersey payrolls increased by 2,200 over the month, resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment level of 4,388,200 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.7 percent from April to May.
 
Employment estimates for April were revised upward to show a March to April gain of 7,100 nonfarm jobs (preliminary estimate: +5,600). The state’s unemployment rate for April remained at 4.8 percent. 
 
Over the past month, three out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains compared to April. Those sectors were leisure and hospitality (+3,000), construction (+600), and trade, transportation, and utilities (+200). Sectors that recorded job losses included professional and business services (-1,500), manufacturing (-500), private education and health services (-400), other services (-300), and financial activities (-200). Information recorded no change over the month. The public sector recorded a gain of 1,300 jobs for the month.
 
Over the year, the state’s private sector lost 3,100 jobs. Private education and health services industry recorded a year-over-year increase of 26,100 jobs. Losses were recorded year-over-year in trade, transportation, and utilities (-6,400), leisure and hospitality (-5,300), manufacturing (-5,000), construction (-3,800), financial activities (-2,600), other services (-1,600), information (-1,100), and professional and business services (-500). The public sector recorded a loss of 2,800 jobs over the same timeframe.
 
Preliminary BLS estimates data for June will be released on July 16.
 
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: May 2026
 
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 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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