Official Site of The State of New JerseyNew Jersey Employment Report: September 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2026
TRENTON – Preliminary nonfarm employment estimates for September, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that New Jersey payrolls increased by 14,900 over the month, resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment level of 4,377,400 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.2 percent from August to September.
Employment estimates for August were revised higher to show a gain from August to September of 1,200 (preliminary estimates: -1,700). The state’s unemployment rate for August remained 4.3 percent.
Over the past month, six out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains. Those sectors were private education and health services (+7,200), professional and business services (+7,100), leisure and hospitality (+5,500), manufacturing (+1,000), other services (+1,000), and construction (+500). Sectors that recorded job losses include trade, transportation, and utilities (-5,100), information (-1,100), and financial activities (-100). The public sector recorded a loss of 1,100 jobs for the month.
Over the year, the state recorded a total nonfarm gain of 3,600 jobs, with the private sector recording a gain of 6,900 jobs. Private education and health services industry recorded a year-over-year increase of 30,000 jobs, while leisure and hospitality recorded an increase of 2,400 jobs. Losses were recorded year-over-year in trade, transportation, and utilities (-11,200), information (-4,500), construction (-3,100), financial activities (-2,800), manufacturing (-1,600), professional and business services (-1,400), and other services (-900). The public sector recorded a loss of 3,300 jobs.
Preliminary BLS estimates data for October and revised estimates for September will be released on November 19, 2026.
NJ Employment Situation Highlights: September 2026
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/.