State gained 8,300 jobs in January, Labor Department reports

The Department of Labor announced today that New Jersey gained 8,300 jobs during the month of January, putting the state’s overall season-adjusted job level at 4,125,100. According to the department’s report, the state has now regained 85.9% of the jobs it lost during the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020.

The state’s unemployment rate, however, increased by 0.1% to 5.2%, due to more residents rejoining the labor market and searching for jobs.

The department also revised some of its previous estimations of job gains and losses from 2021 and 2020. New estimates peg the total jobs gained in 2021 at 212,400, up from 208,700, and find that the state regained 621,000 jobs from April 2020 until December 2021, not 561,200. On the other hand, the department now estimates New Jersey lost 732,600 jobs in March and April of 2020, not 717,200.