The latest jobs report from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development reflects varied results here in the Garden State. In April, the numbers of jobs fell while the unemployment rate ticked down.

“April was yet another mixed month for the state’s labor market,” said Charles Steindel, former chief economist of the State of New Jersey, who analyzed the report for the research and education organization Garden State Initiative. “The number of jobs fell a stiff 10,900, which was the largest decline since last July. Moreover, the large increase initially reported for March was pared from 13,800 to 12,500.”

Six of the nine main sectors recorded losses last month, led by:

• Leisure and hospitality (-8,900)
• Professional and business services (-2,600)
• Manufacturing (-1,000)

Trade, transportation, and utilities (+2,400) had the biggest increase.

“It’s hard to explain such a large decline; conceivably there may have been difficulty adjusting for the rather early date of Easter (before seasonal adjustment leisure and hospitality actually rose 5,600),” Steindel said regarding the notable drop in leisure and hospitality jobs. “Professional and business services also had a pronounced decline. Like leisure and hospitality, it’s possible some of the reported loss was an artifact of problems with seasonally adjustment of the raw numbers.

“Before seasonal adjustment, jobs in this sector, which includes support services such as landscaping, had an increase of 7,600,” he said.

Unemployment

Steindel described the unemployment numbers as a welcome contrast. In April, the number of unemployed residents fell to an eight-month low.

“After a wrenching seven straight months at 4.8%, the unemployment rate inched down to 4.7% (the actual drop was on the order of .05% – the March number was actually a bit more than 4.75%, while April was a touch under 4.7%),” said Steindel. “While the decline was minute, it was generated in a good way; household employment rose 7,200, and the labor force increased 4,300.”

Steindel noted the last few months represent a “marked divergence” between the state’s payroll numbers and the count of residents at work. The former, he said, are much stronger.

“April reversed a small part of this, unfortunately, the drop in payrolls accounted for most of the correction,” said Steindel. “Hopefully, April’s weakness in jobs owed a lot to the technical issues mentioned, but at the moment this part of the report – the part usually considered the better barometer of current conditions – was pretty glum.”

The May jobs report is due out June 20.