See November Update

Hopes that New Jersey had put the worst of the employment recession behind it were dashed this month with the release of preliminary state data showing a loss of 12,000 private-sector jobs in September.  The job losses pushed New Jersey's unemployment rate to 9.8 percent, same as the US rate and the highest level in 32 years.

Since the start of the employment recession in February 2008, New Jersey has lost 165,900 private-sector jobs, a sharp decrease of 5 percent in 20 months.

"New Jersey's employment recession is not over yet," said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner. "Unemployment continues to rise, and companies are reluctant to hire.  This remains a very tough economic environment in which to do business."
    
Every major sector of the state economy has lost ground since the start of the recession 20 months ago. 

Construction is down 31,000 jobs or 18 percent.  Manufacturing is down 33,000 jobs or 11 percent.  The private-sector's service industries are down 103,000 jobs or 3.5 percent.  Even the public sector, a formerly reliable engine of employment growth, has pulled back, giving up 7,400 jobs. (See table below.)

Continued weakness in the job market raises concerns that this downturn could turn out to be the worst in New Jersey since the Great Depression
    
New Jersey's unemployment rate has soared since the start of the recession early last year, leaping from 4.7 percent to 9.8 percent, the highest level since April 1977.

Hopes for an employment turnaround, raised by a brief rally in July and August, were dimmed by September's reversal. 

New Jersey enjoyed a combined increase of 7,500 private sector jobs in July and August, the first back-to-back monthly increase since the start of the recession.  However, this increase was followed by September's 12,000-job loss. It was also significantly lower than preliminary estimates, which had shown a strong gain of 13,000 jobs in July.  This gain was reduced by more than half to 5,600 following monthly data revisions.