New Jersey Employment Report: April 2026

TRENTON – Preliminary nonfarm employment labor market estimates for April, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that New Jersey payrolls increased by 5,600 over the month, resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment level of 4,384,500 nonfarm jobs. The state’s unemployment rate decreased to 4.8 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from March to April.

Employment estimates for March were revised downward to show an over-the-month gain of 3,100 nonfarm jobs (preliminary estimates: +5,800). The state’s unemployment rate for March remained at 4.9 percent.

Over the past month, five out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains. Those sectors were professional and business services (+5,900), private education and health services (+2,600), trade, transportation, and utilities (+1,100), manufacturing (+900), and other services (+500). Sectors that recorded job losses include leisure and hospitality (-3,300), construction (‑1,500), information (‑600), and financial activities (‑100). The public sector recorded a gain of 100 jobs for the month.

Over the year, the state’s private sector added 8,500 jobs, with two out of nine private industry sectors recording gains including private education and health services (+29,800) and professional and business services (+3,700). Losses were recorded in trade, transportation, and utilities (‑6,100), construction (‑4,900), manufacturing (‑4,400), leisure and hospitality (‑4,400), financial activities (‑2,300), other services (‑1,700), and information (‑1,100). The public sector has recorded a loss of 4,800 jobs over the same span.

Preliminary BLS estimates data for May will be released on June 18, 2026.

NJ Employment Situation Highlights: April 2026

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 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/.

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