GSI Analysis: New Jersey Unemployment Rate Revised Up – U.S. BLS Regional and State Unemployment Annual Averages Report for 2023

• New data for 2023 as a whole mark up New Jersey’s average Unemployment rate from 4.0 to 4.4%.
• Fourth-highest rate of any state, and tops in the Northeast.
• Downward revisions to both employment and the labor force.
• 2022-2023 increase highest in the nation.

On March 1st, The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the Regional and State Unemployment Annual Averages report for 2023. Dr. Charles Steindel, former Chief Economist of the State of New Jersey, analyzed the report for the Garden State Initiative:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released revised 2023 data on unemployment by state, and it’s bad news for New Jersey. For 2023 as whole, the state’s unemployment rate averaged 4.4%, compared to the initial estimate of 4.0%  The average rate for 2022 was also revised up, from 3.7% to 3.9%. The revision reflected a downward revision to the number of employed state residents that was larger than a downward revision to the state’s labor force. The upward revisions to the unemployment rates were especially pronounced over the 12 months from October 2022 to September 2023. The unemployment rate was 4.8% for each of the last 4 months of 2023; prior to the revision only December was showing a rate so high.

Our 2023 unemployment rate was the fourth highest of any state in the nation, exceeded by only Nevada, California, and Illinois and was the highest of any Northeastern state (though DC was also higher). New York’s rate was 4.2%, Delaware 4.0%, Connecticut 3.8%, and Pennsylvania and Massachusetts both 3.4%. The .5 percentage point increase in New Jersey’s unemployment rate was tied with California for the nation’s high.

Although the unemployment rate was up sharply last year, the number of employed residents did increase 1.4%–only modestly below the national average. New Jersey’s labor force actually rose more than the nation as a whole; the combination of somewhat slower growth in employment and somewhat faster growth in the labor force led to the marked increase in unemployment.