GSI Analysis: July ’24 Jobs Report – Soft July for New Jersey Labor Market

• Unemployment rate moved up to 4.7%, though employment and labor force expanded.
• Sharp loss of 10,300 jobs, and June’s drop revised up.

On August 15th, New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued the Monthly Jobs Report for July 2024. Dr. Charles Steindel, former Chief Economist of the State of New Jersey, analyzed the report for the Garden State Initiative:

July was a disappointing month for New Jersey’s labor market. The state’s unemployment rate, which had been drifting down at a glacial pace, ticked up from 4.6% in June to 4.7% in July. The news here, though, was not all bad: the number of residents at work increased by 6.900. This gain was more than offset by a 10,500 increase in the labor force. For quite some time very weak numbers on resident employment and, especially, the labor force, were puzzling, and the recent revival (June saw comparable numbers) helps to resolve some quandaries.

The news on the job front was bad. There was a loss of  10,300 jobs in July, with most major sectors seeing substantive declines. Trade, transportation, and utilities, and education and health services did report increases. Adding to the woe, the initially reported loss of 1,200 jobs in June is now said to have amounted to 4,200.

New Jersey is now reported to have lost jobs in 3 of the last 4 months, and 4 of the last 6. The job count in July was less than that in March. There has been a drop in job growth across the nation in recent months, but it has been notably worse, and, locally, New York state saw a sharp increase in jobs in July.