Listen to this article

The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development released the February jobs report March 27, which shows a big jump — particularly in the public sector.

Key findings in the latest report include:

• Increased by 19,200 jobs – reaching a record high seasonally adjusted level of 4.4 million jobs
• Unemployment rate held steady at 4.6% for the ninth straight month, compared with 4.1% nationally
• Biggest gains
  • Public sector +12,600
  • Education and health services +3,900
  • Trade, transportation and utilities +2,500
• Biggest losses – financial activities -1,200
• A downward revision of January numbers by 4,900 – resulting in a total loss of 11,000, versus the 6,100 preliminary estimate

“On the surface, the job numbers were much better, with a very large 19,200 gain,” said Charles Steindel, former chief economist of the State of New Jersey, who analyzed the report for the Garden State Initiative. “However, that increase mostly reflects a very unusual increase of 12,600 (about 2%) in government employment. We should not assume that there is a sudden expansion in government. Rather, there was a peculiar 7,400 drop in government in January (originally reported as a loss of 12,000).

“Most likely, the odd moves in January and February are statistical artifacts – though the February level of government employment is a bit higher than seen in recent years.”

Steindel noted how February saw an increase of 6,600 from the January revised figure.

Soft start

“Most sectors saw modest to moderate gains, though finance sector jobs fell by 1,200,” he said. “Perhaps more notable, though, is that there was a large downward revision of 9,500 in the estimate of private sector jobs in January. The downward revision was particularly evident in professional and business services – not only in administrative support (which includes work such as groundskeeping and waste management) but also the more critical professional, scientific, and business services area.”

“In a nutshell, despite the favorable headline job result, taken together the start of the year was soft for New Jersey’s private sector, with February’s level a mere 3,000 higher than December’s,” said Steindel.

The March jobs report will be released April 17.