NJ job numbers cause concern
Economy 'weaker than assumed,' professor says
By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Revisions released to New Jersey's labor market data show that the state added even fever jobs in 2025 than previously thought.
.....
The number published on April 2 [2026] show that the state added just 5,100 jobs in 2025, down from the previously estimated 9,000. New Jersey's unemployment rate stands at 5.2%, one of the highest of any state in the nation.
..... By themselves, revisions to the number of jobs added or lost in the workforce is a common feature with the reporting by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tallies those figures.
..... But the new revisions come amid what people like New York Federal Reserve President John Williams have characterized as a "low-hire, low-fire" economy.
.....
"There's been a hesitancy by businesses to hire too much, because you may wish you hadn't and also a hesitancy to lay off workers, because you may wish you needed those employees," he said at a December [2025] banking event at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.
..... The numbers suggest "that the local economy is even weaker than we assumed and that that's been an issue for the last couple of years, and not just now," Joseph Foudy, an economics professor at NYU's Stern School of Business in Manhattan, said in an email.
..... Private education and helaht services added 29,000 positions in 2025, followed by construction, as well as information both of which added 800 jobs last year. [2025]
..... The biggest losses were in trade, transportation and utilities, which lost 5,600 jobs in 2025. Manufacturing lost 4,800 positions, as did professional and business services. Restaurants and hospitality lost 2,900 jobs.
..... Figures maintained by the state Labor Department show that 109 companies laid off a combined 16,539 workers in 2025.
..... The health care boom effectively lifted New Jersey's total jobs numbers in 2025, said NYU's Foudy.
..... "Without that sector, we'd be talking about 20,000+ job losses," he said.
Factors paint sour picture
..... Last year, [2025] inflation spiked, hiring slowed and businesses have grappled with the prices they will pay because of President Donald Trump's tariffs and how they will even have access to international supply chains.
..... But the our jobs report came well before U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have pushed New Jersey gas prices up by over $1 in the past month. [03/2026]
..... Data released in March [2026] by the New York Fed showed that service sector employment in North Jersey and the larger New York City metro area fell for the seventh month in a row, and the state workforce has shed nearly 4,000 jobs this year. [2026]
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The number looked at service firms - essentially white-collar jobs - across North Jersey, New York City and southwestern Connecticut, which make up the New York metro area.
..... All told, the number of service sector employees in the region was at its lowest since 2021, when the nation emerged form the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuring lock-down and business restrictions.
..... In addition, the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence has has sparked fear that many white-collar jobs will be automated, causing a subsequent increase in the unemployment rate. And the rise of oil prices and ensuring inflation - like gas process and groceries - could further drags down jobs numbers in the months to come, said Robert Scott, an economist at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
..... "The summer may be secure because people already have made travel plans and there will be a further lag in prices," he said in an email. "The fall is when I anticipate we see the biggest weakening."
..... "People hold back on spending due to uncertainty and concerns of rising prices in various sectors," Scott continued.