New Jersey reports meager job growth in January, unemployment ticks up slightly

(The Center Square) – New Jersey employers added 900 nonfarm jobs in January, but the state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9%, up from 7.7% in December.

In January 2020, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 3.7%, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development. The state numbers are based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

“Everybody expects 2021 to be a much better year than 2020,” Charles Steindel, New Jersey’s former chief economist and resident scholar at the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College, said in an analysis for the Garden State Initiative. “Unfortunately, New Jersey’s labor market numbers were rather downbeat in January.

“There was a large (30,000) increase in the state’s workforce, and the number of employed residents rose by 20,000, but clearly there is a long way yet to go until we get to something like full employment,” Steindel added.

While some sectors, such as financial activities, education, health services and leisure and hospitality, saw employment increases, others such as utilities, information and utilities saw a decline.

“The payroll figures were even less promising,” Steindel said. “The number of jobs in the state rose less than 1,000 in January, on the heels of December’s 6,100 drop. The total count is more than 360,000 under last February’s peak. After the sharp rebound in the middle of 2020, the increase in jobs from September to January has been a meager 5,300.

“There were no particularly notable swings in jobs (up or down) in January in any major sector,” Steindel added. “It has generally been the case in recent months, including January, that government jobs have drifted down, while private sector jobs have drifted up, but that divergence has been fairly modest.”

Additionally, as part of the BLS’ annual benchmarking adjustment process, the loss in total nonfarm jobs between December 2019 and December 2020 increased to 341,700. It was previously reported at a loss of 336,400.

All nine major private industry sectors of the state’s economy lost jobs during the period.

“Our January showing is in marked (and odd) contrast to our neighbors,” Steindel said. “Both New York and Pennsylvania saw substantive increases in their job counts, but labor force and resident employment declines.”

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