National Labor Market Holds Steady; NJ Unemployment Remains Elevated at 5.4%

The labor market rolled steady nationally while NJ continues to experience higher unemployment than most other states, stubbornly continuing a trend we saw through 2025.

The BLS State Employment and Unemployment report for December 2025 has the national unemployment at 4.4% – close to what we saw in November and 0.3% higher from a year ago.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate, on the other hand, increased by 0.8 percentage points over the year and landed at 5.4% in December. Only DC (6.7%) and California at (5.5%) had higher rates.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Weekly Unemployment Insurance Claims report offers a more immediate look at how the labor market moves, showing a slight drop in jobless claims from the week before (209,000).  The four week moving average went up to 206,250. So while claims remain high, they’re not accelerating.

Additionally, insured unemployment dropped to 1.83 million, the lowest level since September 2024 and  the insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.2 percent. At the state level, New Jersey reported 10,823 new initial claims- a 1,234 drop week over week. Despite this, the state continues to rank high nationally.

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