Official Site of The State of New JerseyNew Jersey Adds Jobs in October; Unemployment Rate Inches Higher
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2023
TRENTON – Preliminary estimates produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate a mixed labor market picture for the state in October.
Total nonfarm employment grew by 6,600 jobs in October to reach a seasonally adjusted level of 4,353,000. Job growth in the private sector increased by 5,400. However, the state’s unemployment rate increased to 4.6 percent as the state’s labor force participation rate fell.
Revised estimates for September show a gain of 6,700 jobs; preliminary estimates had the monthly gain at 7,700 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate for September remained unchanged at 4.4 percent.
In October, gains in the private sector were concentrated in six out of nine major private industry sectors: professional and business services (+2,000), leisure and hospitality (+1,800), other services (+1,000), trade, transportation, and utilities (+700), education and health services (+100), and information (+100). Manufacturing (-200) and financial activities (-100) recorded losses, while construction recorded no change for the month. The public sector recorded a seasonally adjusted gain of 1,200 jobs.
Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 85,700 nonfarm jobs. These gains were distributed across the board, with eight out of nine private sector industries recording a gain between October 2022 and October 2023. These industries were: education and health services (+45,500), leisure and hospitality (+14,400), trade, transportation, and utilities (+4,700), other services (+2,700), construction (+2,700), manufacturing (+2,100), information (+1,600), and financial activities (+300). Professional and business services (-5,200) was the only sector to record a year-over-year loss. Over the year, the state’s public sector recorded an increase of 16,800 jobs.
Preliminary estimates for November will be released on December 21.
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/.
