New Brunswick-Area Unemployment Rate Improves In September: Feds

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The national unemployment rate continued falling in October to near pre-pandemic levels, with the addition of 531,000 jobs to the national economy, but the number of job openings remains high.

The labor force participation rate, a measure of the employed share of the civilian population, was unchanged in October from September's 61.6 percent — 1.7 percentage points lower than the rate in February 2020. Nationwide, there were about 10.4 million job openings at the end of September.

Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped from 4.8 percent to 4.6 percent from September to October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pre-pandemic unemployment rate was 3.5 percent.

The newest available local unemployment figures are for September; that rate improved since August in the New Brunswick area and continues to be lower than it was at the beginning of the pandemic.

The Middlesex County unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in September, down from 6.2 percent in August. That reflected some improvement from September 2020, when the unemployment rate stood at 7.0 percent.

The September unemployment rate in Middlesex County was also lower than the New Jersey rate of 6.2 percent, according to the latest figures from the BLS.

Also, the BLS revised its August and September national job report figures. September’s figures were revised upward from 194,000 jobs added to 312,000 added, and August's total rose from 366,000 jobs added to 483,000 added.

Editor's note: This post was automatically generated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. County and state figures are not seasonally adjusted and September figures are preliminary. Please report any errors or other feedback to [email protected].