New Jersey ended 2024 tied for the seventh-worst unemployment rate in the country. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
New Jersey’s unemployment rate remained stubbornly high throughout the year, ending 2024 tied for the seventh-worst unemployment rate in the country.
The Garden State has a couple of things working against it. It’s home to sectors that are shrinking, it’s among the most expensive states to live in so some workers are holding out for high-paying jobs, and some workers still don’t want to commute to the office.
“Most of those people, I suspect, will come back into the workforce whether they find a remote job or not, because at some point, you run out of options and start to run out of money,” said Christopher Hayes, a professor at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations.
New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 4.6% in November, the latest figures available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 0.1% drop from October. Over the year, the state’s jobless rate stayed between 4.6% and 4.8%, which Hayes called an indicator of “a softening labor market.”
Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 4.2% in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nevada had the worst unemployment rate in the nation at 5.7%, and South Dakota had the lowest at 1.9%. New Jersey is tied with Alaska, Rhode Island, and Washington.
Between November 2023 and November 2024, New Jersey has added 38,400 jobs, with about 80% in the private sector. The public sector has seen a gain of 7,500 jobs over the same time period, according to state labor officials.
The state’s jobless rate is still much better than the state’s peak of unemployment in 2020. As the pandemic let to statewide business closures, the unemployment rate soared past 15% in May 2020 in New Jersey, the highest since officials began tracking those numbers in 1976.
Hayes said New Jersey’s current performance was expected by most economists who saw health care, financial, and pharmaceutical companies — sectors that call New Jersey home — beginning to tighten their workforce. Companies like Bristol Meyers Squibb and Prudential Financial laid off hundreds of workers this year, according to notices filed with the state.
While the American economy has an “international dimension” and states play a relatively minor role, Hayes said New Jersey could do a better job at advertising re-skilling programs to get people back into the workforce.
“You can get people who feel like they’re stuck and don’t want to work in retail or warehouses for the rest of their lives. You can give them something else to do, put them in a line of work that has a real future and pretty good earning power,” he said.