Business & Tech
August Layoffs Skyrocketed In NJ, Despite Added Jobs
Challenger, Grey & Christmas recently released job and unemployment figures for August 2025. The numbers paint a grim picture for NJ.
A massive number of workers were laid off in New Jersey last month, despite the state labor market adding jobs during the same period, according to new data.
Challenger, Grey & Christmas, a private firm that collects labor market data, recently released job and unemployment figures for August 2025.
The numbers paint a grim picture for New Jersey workers.
Find out what's happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
According to the Challenger report, 35,065 Garden State jobs were cut in August, up from 3,557 in July. So far this year, 61,760 New Jersey jobs have been eliminated, compared to just 7,754 in all of 2024.
Challenger's report does not specify at which companies the cuts occurred.
Find out what's happening in Across New Jerseyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Only two other states — California and New York — and the District of Columbia have reported more eliminated positions in 2025.
The report was released just weeks before the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics unveiled preliminary labor market estimates for August, which showed New Jersey added jobs amid the job cuts.
"Total nonfarm employment increased in August by 4,900 to a seasonally adjusted level of 4,389,200 jobs," Gov. Phil Murphy's office said in a news release. "The state’s unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 5.0 percent."
Nationally, U.S.-based employers announced 85,979 job cuts in August, up 39 percent from the 62,075 announced in July, according to the Challenger report.
August’s total was the highest for the month since 2020, when 115,762 job cuts were recorded. After
2020, it is also the highest August total since the thick of the Great Recession in 2008, when 88,736 cuts were announced.
So far this year, companies have announced 892,362 job cuts, the highest year-to-date since 2020, when 1,963,458 were announced.
Industries cutting the most jobs in August were pharmaceuticals, financial and retail.
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