State saw layoffs double in first quarter from 2024
By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Twenty-eight New Jersey businesses announced layoffs of a combined 3,618 wokers in the first quarter of 2025, more than double the 1,753 layoffs announced by 118 companies during the same period in 2024.
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This quarter's numbers come as business grapple with the immediate impacts and future unknowns of President Donald Trump;s tariffs on imports from the United States' historic trading partners, spending cuts by Elon Musk's Department of Government efficiency and the governor;s race in New Jersey.
..... "When you're uncertain, you're going to be safe rather than sorry," said Tom Bracken, who heads the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.
..... That means layoffs, price hikes and pulling back on expansion and investment by businesses, Bracken said.
..... The number of layoffs in the first quarter each year since New Jersey emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic has fluctuated.
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The layoffs announced in the first quarter actually take effect between January and August.
..... And they come amid a strong market in the first quarter, according to number from the U.S. Bureau of labor Statistics.
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In March, [2025] U.S. employment rose by 228,000 jobs, compared with 273,000 additional jobs in February 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 recession.
..... For 2019, the average monthly job gain was 166,000 jobs, so these recent numbers indicate "that the labor market remained strong," said James Hughes, an economist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
..... "However, the major question going forward is whether this is the last positive month ... before the tariff turmoil slows the economy," Hughes said.
..... The layoffs figure of 3,618 pink slips across 28 New Jersey companies was gleaned form public filings made with the New Jersey Department of Labor, known as Worker Adjustment and retraining Notification, or WARN notices.
..... these were the numbers of layoffs announce in the first quarter going back to the end of the pandemic:
* Q1 2025: 3,618.
* Q1 2024: 1,753.
* Q1 2023: 3,848.
* Q1 2022: 1,365.
..... "We may have seen in 2023 a sharp increase in quarterly layoffs and the like "because of inflation and higher interest rates, Hughes said.
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"We may see the same thing in 2025" sublease of the impact of Trump's tariffs, he said. "It almost seems like we're in another panic."
..... According to federal data, the level of people quiting has leveled off after it peaked during the so-called Great Resignation, when many quit work and found better employment opportunities immediately after the pandemic.
..... Likewise, the level of job openings has softened, federal data shows, after a spring 2022 peak.
..... Effectively, the number of job openings and employees quitting are falling back to their pre-pandemic levels, said Hughes, of Rutgers.
..... But Robert Scott, an economist at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, said that "job losses across a variety of sectors" are indicative of "normal business cycle changes in employment and economic conditions."
..... The numbers suggest "there isn't some underlying systemic problem such as one or more large pharmaceutical companies closing and laying off a large number of employees," he said in an email.
Which NJ companies cut jobs this year? [2025]
..... British banking giant Barclays is laying off 78 employees this summer. [2025] Biotech firm BioREferencce Health is laying off 81 employees at its main laboratory in Elmwood Park.
..... BetMGM, one of the nation's largest Online gambling companies, will lay off 83 employees at its headquarters in Jersey City, as it copes with slower growth in the sports betting industry."
..... This spring and summer, [2025] global drug-maker Novartis will lay off 427 employees who report to the company's East Hanover headquarter because of an upcoming medication patent expiration.
..... Drug-maker Eisai will cut 57 jobs through May [2025] at its headquarters in the ON3 campus, which straddles the border between Nutley and Clifton.
..... Jonna fabrics is laying off 262 employees across the state after it declared bankruptcy and announced that it plans to close all 11 New Jersey stores.