Initial New Jersey unemployment claims totaled 8,836 for the week ending Oct. 4, an 11.6% increase from the previous week’s total, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) reported on Thursday.
Continued claims, which represent benefits claimed by people already approved to receive unemployment insurance benefits, totaled 88,732 for the same period. That figure is 2.4% less than the previous week and 2.0% less than the same week in 2024.
The U.S. Department of Labor is no longer releasing regular economic data, including the monthly employment situation report, because of the federal government shutdown. The federal government’s last unemployment report for the month of August, put New Jersey’s unemployment rate at 5.0%, which exceed the 4.3% national average by 0.7 percentage points.
“NJDOL is utilizing internal administrative data to maintain continuity in public reporting to assist with timely labor market insights,” the department said in a news release Thursday.
NJDOL said the unemployment data does not include federal employees who have applied for unemployment insurance benefits as a result of recent furloughs. Since the start of the shutdown on Oct. 1, NJDOL has received over 500 UI claims from federal workers.
Federal workers seeking unemployment information should go to MyUnemployment.nj.gov/federal.
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