Huge Amazon, Insurance Company Layoffs Sends NJ Unemployment Skyrocketing

New Jersey has opened 2026 with the state's highest unemployment rate since the COVID-19 pandemic, posing an added challenge as Gov. Mikie Sherrill takes on the state's affordability crisis.

The unemployment rate in New Jersey in December 2025 was 5.4 percent, a full percentage point higher than the national average of 4.4 percent and the third-highest of any individual state in the nation behind the District of Columbia (No. 1 at 6.7 percent) and California (No. 2 at 5.5 percent).

Revised employment estimates for November showed a loss of 1,200 jobs that month, with the state’s unemployment rate at 5.4 percent.

New Jersey's peak unemployment during the pandemic hit 15.4 percent in May 2020, according to Trading Economics. The record low was 3 percent in August 2022, the report said.

The current statistics, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, also showed New Jersey employers added 5,700 jobs in December to a seasonally adjusted level of 4,402,200 jobs, according to the NJ Department of Labor.

Those gains come in spite of 16,758 layoffs in the state in 2025, with nearly a third of those cuts — 5,429 — announced in the final quarter of the year. The fourth-quarter layoff notices included 4,221 job cuts to be completed in 2026.

New Jersey has opened 2026 with more hundreds more layoffs announced. As of Jan. 30, companies have notified the New Jersey Department of Labor that they are laying off 1,911 employees, according to the state's WARN notice archive.

That includes 871 layoffs by Amazon as it closes down its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go operations, the company said.

There are four Amazon Fresh stores in New Jersey; the company's WARN notice said the layoffs break down to 240 in Passaic County, 417 in Bergen County, 141 in Monmouth County, 44 in Hudson County and 29 cuts to its other statewide operations. Those layoffs are set to be completed by April 28.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is cutting 242 jobs at its Newark offices by April 26. The health insurer, which has 5,500 employees in the state, said it is facing "unprecedented financial challenges due largely to higher medical costs and utilization across all lines of business," ROI reported.

T-Mobile also announced layoffs of 78 people in New Jersey. The company told The Street that "being the Un-carrier has always meant growing in ways that fuel broader products and services, deepen connections with our customers and enable us to respond even faster to a dynamic market."

"As the next step in our evolution, we’re making some changes while continuing to hire to ensure we have the right focus, structure and momentum to keep changing the industry through innovation and our long-standing focus on customers," that report said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job growth in New Jersey in December came primarily in three areas: leisure and hospitality, where more than 3,000 jobs were added; private education and health services, where more than 2,800 new jobs were created; and professional and business services, with more than 2,500 new jobs.

Overall for 2025, New Jersey added 9,000 non-farm jobs, with private sector employment increasing by 9,200 jobs, including more than 28,400 in private education and health services and more than 8,900 in business services.

Construction lost more than 10,200 jobs, while the trade, transportation, and utilities sectors lost more than 9,800, the state labor department said.

Public sector jobs also have decreased by 200, the state said.

A survey in late 2025 of members of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association found most were taking a wait-and-see approach to 2026 when it comes to employment levels.

"People are anticipating holding (job) levels in 2026," said Michele Siekerka, CEO of the association. The NJBIA's survey was conducted by Signet Research and gathered 569 valid responses primarily from small businesses, with 65 percent employing 24 people or fewer.

Read more: NJ Job Losses Reach 16K For 2025; What Does 2026 Hold?