New Jersey’s Employment Report for June 2026 has shown that the Garden State’s unemployment rate has dropped by 0.2 points from May to June, currently sitting at 4.5%. This number marks the lowest that the unemployment rate has been in New Jersey since 2024.
Preliminary nonfarm employment labor market estimates for June have shown that New Jersey payrolls decreased by 300 during the month. This resulted in a seasonally adjusted employment level of roughly 4,387,10 jobs. Throughout the month, five out of nine private industry sectors recorded gains in employment when compared to the previous month. The five sectors that saw these gains were professional and business services (+3,700), private education and health services (+3,600), construction (+500), manufacturing (+500) and other services (+500).
To contrast, the four sectors that recorded job losses throughout the month of June consisted of trade, transportation and utilities (-4,200), leisure and hospitality (-3,700), information (-900) and financial activities (-300).
Over the year, New Jersey has recorded a total gain of 8,000 nonfarm jobs, with the private sector gaining 10,100 jobs. Of the private industry sectors previously mentioned, private education and health services (+31,000) and professional and business services (+6,100) were the only ones to record year-over-year gains throughout this span. Over the same period of time, the public sector recorded a loss of 2,100 jobs.
The Garden State also boasts a labor force participation rate of 63.5%, which stands above the national average of roughly 61.5%. Though, New Jersey is still behind the national average employment rate, which currently sits at 4.2%, though the state has been inching closer and closer. In January 2026, New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 0.9 points behind the national average, compared to just 0.3 points now.
The Garden State will hope to keep this trend going, continuing to bring down the state’s unemployment rate. The report has already shown that New Jersey is moving in the right direction, reaching numbers that have not been seen in over two years.