Preliminary employment estimates for December, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), show New Jersey employers added 5,700 jobs in December to a seasonally adjusted level of 4,402,200 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate in December was unchanged at 5.4 percent.

Revised employment and labor force estimates for November resulted in an upward revision of 500 jobs, leading to a revised October to November loss of 1,200 jobs. The state’s unemployment rate for November remained at 5.4 percent.

In December, five out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains compared to November. Those sectors were leisure and hospitality (+3,000), private education and health services (+2,800), professional and business services (+2,500), financial activities (+600), and information (+300). Sectors that recorded job losses include trade, transportation, and utilities (-3,200), manufacturing (-500), construction (-100), and other services (-100). The public sector recorded a gain of 400 jobs for the month.

Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 9,000 non-farm jobs, with private sector employment increasing by 9,200 jobs. Two out of nine private industry sectors recorded a gain, including private education and health services (+28,400) and professional and business services (+8,900). Losses were recorded year-over-year in construction (-10,200), trade, transportation, and utilities (-9,800), other services (-3,500), information (-3,400), manufacturing (-600), financial activities (-300), and leisure and hospitality (-200). The public sector has recorded a loss of 200 jobs over the past 12 months.

Note: Preliminary employment estimates for January 2026, along with benchmarked employment and labor force estimates for 2025 and earlier years, are tentatively planned for release in early April, pending an official schedule announcement from BLS. The benchmarking process will result in revisions to the previously released employment and labor force estimates.

NJ Employment Situation Highlights: December 2025

PRESS TABLES

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/.