NJ Layoffs Spike With Nearly 4,500 Job Cuts In Summer

Layoffs have continued to surge in New Jersey this summer, with nearly 4,500 job cuts announced across a variety of sectors, according to notices filed with the state Department of Labor.

More than 30 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices were filed by 25 companies from June 1 through Aug. 31, according to the state.

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The total layoffs announced in New Jersey so far in 2026 is 12,980 as of Aug. 31, a 45 percent increase over the 8,979 announced through Aug. 31 in 2025. The 4,473 summer layoff total for 2026 is more than 2.5 times the 1,763 in cuts announced in the summer of 2025.

The surge in summer layoff notices comes as a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says employment in the state was essentially unchanged in March 2026, with 4,247,800 people employed, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program.

That report also said employment declined in 10 of New Jersey's largest counties from March 2025 through March 2026, with Somerset County seeing the largest decrease in employment, down 2.5 percent, in the state during that time period.

At the same time, Somerset County saw the largest increase in average weekly wage during that time, with its increase at 5.6 percent to an average weekly wage of $2,849.

Monmouth County saw the largest decrease in average weekly wage, a 4.2 percent drop to $1,446 as of March 2026, according to the report.

Overall, New Jersey's unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in July; the August unemployment rate has not been released yet. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the state shed 25,000 jobs in July, though state officials questioned the estimates.

The summer layoff surge was led by Samsung, which announced 918 job cuts in the summer. The electronics giant is cutting those positions at two sites — 739 at Englewood Cliffs by Sept. 30, and 179 in Ridgefield Park effective Oct. 1.

Verizon, which has made significant job cuts under new CEO Daniel Schulman (13,000 cuts were announced in 2025 and 3,000 were announced in May), is cutting 473 positions in three notices filed in the summer. Overall Verizon has cut 594 jobs in 2026 in New Jersey.

Other large layoffs this summer include Novartis, which announced in July it was eliminating 322 positions by Oct. 2 at its East Hanover location, part of 572 cuts in 2026; Mars/Wrigley, which is eliminating 307 positions when it closes its site in Newark in October; Hello Fresh, which is eliminating 374 jobs in Swedesboro when it shuts down that operation in November, and JP Morgan Chase, which announced 235 cuts to be completed by mid-November, part of 540 layoffs since the start of 2026.