New Jersey’s unemployment rate increased from 5.3% in June to 5.4% in July. The 0.1% change is credited to job losses in the housing, hotel, and food service industries.
According to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the state increase was less than the 0.2% increase in July for the US as a whole.
The state’s jobless rate is under the national rate of 5.7%, but is much higher than its rate of 4.2% only a year ago. Total job losses over the first seven months of the year have totaled 14,100.
Although New Jersey saw an increase in its unemployment rate, there was a boost of 3,100 jobs in the professional and business services sectors.