GSI Analysis: March ’25 Jobs Report – New Jersey’s Labor Market Weakened in March

• Unemployment rate moved up to 4.7%.
• Job count fell from downward revised February number.

New Jersey’s March labor market data was disappointing. After holding at 4.6% for 9 months, the unemployment rate increased to 4.7%, as the number employed fell more than the slight drop in the labor force.

The job numbers were comparably glum, with the total down 2,700 from the revised February figure, which was itself marked down 5,400 from the preliminary result released last month. In other words, the March job total is 8,100 under the initial February estimate. Education and health and “Other” services were the only private sectors to show gains; the public sector was up a meager 700.

The data show that the number of jobs in New Jersey in March was the same as in December. However, removing the modest increase in the public sector reveals that the private job count has fallen by 4,700. While the decline is modest, given the fears that the ongoing policy and market turmoil will filter into the Main Street economy, the state is not facing the risks on a firm footing.

Our showing in March was weaker than New York’s, which had a modest increase in  jobs (although with a downward revision to February comparable to New Jersey’s), and saw a reduction in it unemployment rate from 4.3% to 4.2%.