Official Site of The State of New JerseyNew Jersey Employment Report: March 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2026
TRENTON – Preliminary nonfarm employment labor market estimates for March, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that New Jersey payrolls increased by 5,800 over the month, resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment level of 4,381,600 jobs. Between February and March, the state’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 4.9 percent.
Employment estimates for February were revised upward by 2,100 to show a January to February loss of 8,200 nonfarm jobs (the preliminary estimate showed a loss of 10,300 nonfarm jobs). The state’s unemployment rate for February was unchanged at 5.1 percent.
Over the past month, six out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains in New Jersey. Those sectors were professional and business services (+3,300), private education and health services (+3,200), leisure and hospitality (+1,100), construction (+800), information (+800), and trade, transportation, and utilities (+700). Sectors that recorded job losses include other services (-1,900), financial activities (-1,400), and manufacturing (-400). The public sector recorded a loss of 300 jobs for the month.
Over the year, the state’s private sector added 9,300 jobs. Three out of nine private industry sectors recorded gains, including education and health services (+30,100), leisure and hospitality (+1,000), and information (+100). Losses were recorded year-over-year in trade, transportation, and utilities (-6,400), manufacturing (-4,900), construction (-3,600), financial activities (-3,000), professional and business services (-2,100), and other services (-1,900). The public sector recorded a loss of 5,300 jobs.
Preliminary BLS estimates data for April will be released on May 21st.
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/.