NJ adds jobs for 15th consecutive month in February

In February, New Jersey had the largest monthly decrease in unemployment nationwide as the state’s streak of adding jobs extended to the 15th consecutive month.

That’s according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported the Garden State posted a 0.5% percentage point drop from the previous month. Overall, the U.S. unemployment rate for February 2022 came in at 3.8%, while New Jersey’s fell to 4.6%.

Employers added 25,900 jobs to payrolls in February, according to the preliminary data released March 25.

The state has recovered about 90% of jobs (658,300) lost at the onset of the pandemic and its accompanying response efforts, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

In February, total nonfarm wage and salary employment in the state was a seasonally adjusted level of 4.15 million. All of that month’s job gains (26,200 jobs) came from the private sector, NJDOWLD said, with increases in eight of the nine major sectors.

Public sector employment decreased by 300 jobs.

Industries marking February gains include:

• Trade, transportation, and utilities: +9,000
• Leisure and hospitality: +5,200
• Education and health services: +4,300
• Other services: +3,100
• Professional and business services: +2,300
• Construction: +1,300
• Manufacturing: +800
• Information: +200

January’s total nonfarm employment estimates were revised in the release of February’s information from the NJDOLWD, making the month-over-month increase 11,400 jobs — 3,100 more than initially reported. The overall unemployment rate, meanwhile, was revised by 0.1 percentage point less to 5.1%.