New Jersey second highest for layoffs in the nation, study reveals
Amid this turbulent time in the nation's economy, employees from the Garden State suffer the shorter end of the stick.
According to a 24/7 Wall St. study, New Jersey faces the second highest layoffs in the nation at a sobering 1.6 percent (68,000 total), only beaten by Montana's with 1.7 percent.
States were ranked based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, accounting for the number of layoffs and discharges as of January 2025 as a percentage of total nonfarm unemployment.
Although much of America's layoff activity occurs in the West and Midwest due to high turnover rates in recreation and construction sectors, high turnover can be balanced out by an abundance of new, available jobs.
However, this is not the case for New Jersey, where a high number of layoffs is accompanied by our even higher rate of unemployment (4.6 percent, 225,296 total) raising concerns over the state's volatile labor market.
Recent major layoffs include Prudential Financial cutting 634 employees in 2024, as well as JoAnn Fabrics laying off 262 employees after the company announced that they were going out of business and closing all remaining stores back in February.
Despite the driven work ethic of New Jerseyans, the bleak reality is that living here comes at a considerable cost.
Here's a greater breakdown of New Jersey's numbers:
Layoffs and discharges rate, January 2025: 1.6% (68,000 total)
Quits rate, January 2025: 1.5% (02 total)
Hires rate, January 2025: 2.7% (116,000 total)
Unemployment rate, January 2025: 4.6% (225,296 total)
Unemployed persons to job opening rate: 1.2 per job opening
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: New Jersey reports second most layoffs in United States: study

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