NJ netted 46K new jobs in 2024, which put it 20% nationally in job growth
New Jersey net nearly 46,000 new jobs over 2024, or a 1.1% increase, ranking the state 20th in job growth last year.
That's according to recent numbers put out by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, a federal agency that tracks employment levels nationwide.
New Jersey's numbers are fairly 'middle of the pack,' said Robert Scott, an economist at Monmouth University.
'I would say New Jersey is in OK shape as far as employment is concerned,' he said. 'Job growth is decent, but not amazing over the last year. Our unemployment rate is reasonably low historically.'
The state's unemployment rate was 4.6% as of February, just up from 4.4% that same month last year.In a December survey, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association reported that 62% of employers did not expect that many changes to their employment levels in 2025.
Fifty-seven percent of New Jersey businesses said they had no plans to expand in the state, the poll added.
New Jersey's unemployment rate is the 11th highest in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A year ago, it had the sixth highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Nevada had the worst unemployment rate at 5.8%, while South Dakota's was the lowest jobless rate at 1.9%. Nationally, the unemployment rate is 4.1%.
New Jersey's latest unemployment rate is still a far cry from the 15.4% unemployment seen in May 2020 during the COVID-19 business closures, which was New Jersey's highest unemployment rate since those figures were first tracked in 1976.
Higher-paying office jobs became saturated coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, James Hughes, an economist at Rutgers University, said in an interview last year.
That pushed New Jersey's unemployment rate in 2022 coming out of the pandemic down to 3.0% in August that year.
Blame the high cost of living and high taxes for New Jersey's unemployment rate hovering above the national average, said Scott, the Monmouth University economist.
That translates to fewer new businesses being formed, he said.
'With mature industries already existing in NJ, that makes it more challenging to get new business financing, venture capital,' he continued.
The creation of new businesses slowed both in New Jersey and across the entire Northeast U.S between February 2024 and February 2025, according to data from the U.S Census Bureau.
Nearly 100 New Jersey companies announced more than 13,300 layoffs combined in 2024, public records show, as white-collar sectors such as pharmaceuticals, banking and finance tightened job counts.
Not all 13,332 people were necessarily out of a job. For example, a layoff notice was filed for 157 people from the Metropolitan YMCA in Wayne, but many of those workers were rehired.
And Big Lots said in December last year that it was handing 385 New Jersey workers the pink slip, but then announced a last-minute deal to keep 400 of its U.S stores open.
Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.
Email: munozd@northjersey.com; Twitter:@danielmunoz100 and Facebook
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ was 20th nationally in job growth in 2024
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