Job Search Pressure Atlas
Job Search Pressure in New Jersey
How much competition there is for each advertised opening, how that compares with the rest of the country, and how it has moved.
December 2025 · ranked 5th of 51 · data retrieved 2026-08-22
Unemployed per job opening
1.53
5th of 51
92nd percentile of 107 months of New Jersey history
- Job openings
- 172,000
- Unemployed people
- 263,630
- Openings rate
- 3.8%
- Hires rate
- 3.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.4%
How difficult is New Jersey relative to other states?
In December 2025 there were 1.53 unemployed people for every job opening in New Jersey, which ranks 5th of 51 states and the District of Columbia — among the most competitive in the country. The national figure that month was 1.15. Against New Jersey's own history since 2016, this is the 92nd percentile: more competition than in 92 per cent of the months measured.
Against the nation
0.38 people more per opening than the national figure of 1.15.
Against a year earlier
Up 0.34 from 1.19 in December 2024.
History
New Jersey since 2016.
Unemployed people per job opening, every month. The break is the COVID window, excluded as structurally unreliable.
New Jersey ranged from 0.6 in July 2022 to 1.75 in June 2016, and currently reads 1.53. The dashed accent line is the national figure for the same month, 1.15.
The gap in the line is March 2020 to February 2021, excluded because a mass layoff and rehire makes the ratio describe something other than job-search conditions.
Nearby
New Jersey and the states around it.
New Jersey has 0.36 more unemployed people per opening than the average of the states it borders.
| Rank | State | Per opening | Hires rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | New Jersey | 1.53 | 3.4% |
| 13 | Pennsylvania | 1.22 | 3% |
| 14 | Delaware | 1.20 | 3.6% |
| 22 | New York | 1.08 | 3.3% |
Method
Where these figures come from.
263,630 unemployed people divided by 172,000 job openings gives 1.53. Both figures are seasonally adjusted BLS estimates for December 2025 — openings from the state Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, unemployment from Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
The period is December 2025 rather than the current month because state JOLTS runs behind the national series. The national Job Search Friction Index covers June 2026 and conditions have moved since.
A state average conceals a lot. New Jersey is not uniform, and this figure says nothing about whether the openings in it match the people looking for work. The methodology sets out what the measure can and cannot support.
Cite this
Jobsearch.ing, “Job Search Pressure in New Jersey”, December 2025. 1.53 unemployed people per job opening, ranked 5th of 51. Source data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved 2026-08-22. Methodology version 1.0.0. https://jobsearch.ing/job-market/states/new-jersey//