New Jersey Employment Report: August 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2026
TRENTON – Preliminary nonfarm employment estimates for August, produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that New Jersey payrolls decreased by 1,700 over the month, resulting in a seasonally adjusted employment level of 4,359,600 nonfarm jobs. The state’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 4.3 percent from July to August.
Employment estimates for July were revised higher to show a loss from June to July of 21,900 (preliminary estimate was -25,600 jobs). The state’s unemployment rate for July remained 4.4 percent.
Over the past month, private sector employment increased slightly (+200). Four out of nine private industry sectors recorded employment gains compared to July. Those sectors were leisure and hospitality (+3,400), construction (+1,000), trade, transportation, and utilities (+600), and other services (+500). Sectors that recorded notable job losses include professional and business services (-3,500), and private education and health services (-1,400). Public sector employment declined by 1,900 jobs for the month.
Over the year, the state recorded an employment loss of 9,900 nonfarm jobs, with the private sector recording a loss of 13,100 jobs. New Jersey’s private education and health services sector recorded a year-over-year increase of 22,900 jobs. Job losses occurred in professional and business services (-7,700), trade, transportation, and utilities (-7,200), leisure and hospitality (-6,100), construction (-3,800), information (-3,300), financial activities (-3,100), manufacturing (-3,000), and other services (-1,800). The public sector recorded a gain of 3,200 jobs.
Preliminary BLS estimates data for September and revised estimates for July will be released on October 15, 2026.
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 .