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But 20,200 New Jerseyans lost jobs in September

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

At least 20,200 New Jerseyans lost their jobs in September.

The state Department of Labor and announced Wednesday that New Jersey's unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 9.4 percent but it also pointed out that 9,400 people lost their private sector jobs and 10,800 others lost government and education jobs.

The national jobless rate remained at 9.6 percent.

And based on more complete reporting from employers, previously released August estimates show a revised July-August loss of 1,100 jobs, after a downward revision of 1,600 for a total employment level of 3,844,000. Preliminary estimates had indicated an over-the-month gain of 500 jobs.

In September, six of the ten private sector industry sectors registered job losses while three recorded gains, and one was unchanged.

Industries with significant job contraction included: professional and business services, 4,500 jobs lost; education and health services, 2,700 jobs lost; trade, transportation and utilities, 2,400; and leisure and hospitality, 1,900. In professional and business services the majority of the loss occurred in the administrative support/waste management/remediation services component, 3,300 jobs lost, while the drop in education and health services was all due to losses in the private education services segment, 5,400 jobs lost. Smaller drops were recorded in construction, 1,100 and financial activities, 300. In industry sectors that saw an increase over the month, the gains were relatively small occurring in manufacturing, 1,800; information, 1,000, and other services 700.

Public sector employment fell during September by 10,800 jobs. The majority of the loss was at the local government level, 7,600. Local government includes employees of counties, municipalities and local school boards. Federal government payrolls also were lower in September, 2,900 as more temporary workers were released by the US Census Bureau. October will probably see the separation of the last remaining temporary workers engaged in Census 2010 activities.

In September, the unadjusted workweek for manufacturing workers increased by 0.3 to 40.7 hours, average hourly earnings decreased by $0.07 to $18.69 and weekly earnings were up by $2.78 to $760.68. Compared with September of last year, the unadjusted workweek was lower by 0.8 hour, average hourly earnings increased by $0.44 and weekly earnings were up by $3.30.