NJ Job Losses Soar Through 1st Quarter Of 2026

Layoffs continued to rise across New Jersey in the first quarter of 2026, with employers announcing nearly 4,800 cuts through the end of March, a 30.7 percent increase over the first quarter of 2025.

The 4,785 layoffs include nearly 1,000 announced in March, with banking companies JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and Fiserv leading the list of employers making cuts.

There were 3,660 layoffs in the first three months of 2025, according to New Jersey's database that tracks WARN notifications.

Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law, a company with 100 employees or more must give workers 60 days' notice of a layoff affecting 50 people or more at a single site. In New Jersey, there are additional requirements, including mandatory severance pay.

JP Morgan Chase, which announced it was cutting 120 positions at its Jersey City location in February, issued notice of a second round of cuts totalling 134 positions at that site. The February cuts take effect May 3, and the March cuts will be completed June 20, according to the database.

UBS, the Swiss-based firm, is cutting 103 jobs in Weehawken, where it has one branch offering banking services.

Fiserv Solutions, which provides banking payment technology, is eliminating 118 jobs in Berkeley Heights. Those layoffs began March 31 and are to be completed by May 31.

In addition, Reckitt Benckiser and two of its subsidiaries — RB Health and Mead Johnson — are cutting 94 jobs in Parsippany, according to the filings. Those layoffs began March 2 and are to be completed by Aug. 31. Reckitt Benckiser makes products including Lysol and Finish; RB Health manufactures products such as Mucinex and Durex, and Mead Johnson manufactures baby formula.

Novartis, which cut 485 positions in 2025, has announced 114 more jobs will be eliminated at its East Hanover site, which had employed about 3,000 people last year.

April has another 967 layoffs announced already at Bayonne University Hospital, according to the database. The owner of the hospital, Hudson Regional Health, told NJ.com that notice is a legal formality as the company takes over Bayonne University Hospital from its previous owner, CarePoint Health.

Hudson Regional Health closed Heights University Hospital's standing emergency room — the hospital's lone remaining service — in mid-March due to mounting financial losses.

Read more: NJ Layoffs: See Where The Job Cuts Are Deepest