While New Jersey hasn’t had any setbacks to annual job growth since the recession officially ended in 2009, the state has been adding about 45,000 jobs each year, a pace that has lagged both the national recovery and the rate of growth experienced during the 1990s as New Jersey rebounded from a prior recession, according to figures tracked by Rutgers’ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. But last year, the state added more than 60,000 private-sector jobs, its best showing since the recession ended.
Report Release: R/ECON Forecast Winter 2026
Read Report R/ECON’s economic forecast for New Jersey at the beginning of 2026 is a mixed bag. The state, like the nation, is likely to finish the year with notably stronger GDP growth than forecast earlier in the year. At the same time, the outlook for 2026 continues...