TRENTON, December 17, 2008 – New Jersey employers shed jobs for the fourth consecutive month in November while the state’s unemployment rate moved higher. Employment was lower by 6,200 over the month. The state’s unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 6.1 percent but remained below the U.S. rate of 6.7 percent, the highest rate in 15 years. November’s rate represents the highest statewide unemployment rate since August 1996.

Over the first 11 months of 2008, employment in New Jersey has followed the national trend, falling by 34,400 jobs (-0.84%), a slightly smaller percentage decrease than the nationwide job loss of 1,911,000 (-1.38%) over the same period.

According to preliminary estimates from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s monthly survey of employers, nonfarm wage and salary employment in the Garden State fell by 6,200 in November to a total of 4,048,200. Losses occurred in both the private (-5,700 jobs) and the public (-500) sectors of New Jersey’s economy. Based on more complete reporting, the previously-released October employment estimate was revised lower by 1,000 to reflect a September-to-October loss of 7,000 jobs.

“The November data underscore how deeply the national recession is hitting our labor market,” said Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow.  “Governor Corzine is taking action to help speed the recovery and protect the most vulnerable, including providing funding for foreclosure prevention assistance; creating an Invest NJ program to give businesses incentives to make capital investments and create jobs; providing $22.5 million for food, energy and legal aid assistance for individuals and families struggling to make ends meet; and investing $500 million in state-managed cash funds and pension funds in New Jersey banks to allow these banks to make more loans available to New Jersey businesses,” Socolow said.

Over-the-month losses were recorded in eight of eleven industry supersectors. The largest employment loss occurred in professional and business services which contracted by 1,900 jobs. All three industry components of the supersector registered job losses, led by professional, scientific and technical services (-1,200), followed by management of companies (-500) and administrative support/waste management/remediation services (-200). Also moving considerably lower was employment in manufacturing (-1,600) as both the durable (-900) and nondurable (-700) goods segments suffered job loss.

Other supersectors recording job loss included information (-900), financial activities (-900), construction (-500), and trade, transportation and utilities (-200). The only industry to record appreciable gains in November was education and health services which added 300 jobs. Hiring in the health care and social assistance (+500) category was responsible for the increase.

Over the month, the unadjusted workweek for manufacturing workers increased by 0.3 hours to 41.3 hours, average hourly earnings rose by $0.14 to $18.10 and weekly earnings were up by $11.17 to $747.53. Compared with November of last year, the unadjusted workweek for manufacturing workers was down by 0.5 hours, average hourly earnings rose by $0.65 and weekly earnings were higher by $18.12.

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