The last weeks of 2025 are bringing more bad news for workers in New Jersey as more layoffs have been announced, pushing the state’s total to more than 16,000 for the year.
The latest — and largest — cut announced is by Verizon, which is cutting 1,319 jobs in the state, according to the NJ Department of Labor’s WARN notice database.
Also announcing layoffs in the last few weeks are Wonder Group, a fast casual restaurant chain, with 121 job cuts by Feb. 19; CMC Energy Services in Hamilton, cutting 89 by March; Intercept Pharmaceuticals in Morristown, cutting 146 by June 30, and Anheuser Busch, which is eliminating 151 positions in Newark in March.
The continued job reductions have sparked questions about whether New Jersey is nearing or in a recession.
New Jersey’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in September, the most recent figures available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in November, according to information released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. State-by-state figures for November have not yet been released…
Marc Pfeiffer, associate director of the Rutgers-New Brunswick School of Planning and Public Policy, was not as certain in remarks to NJ101.5 in October.
“We may start seeing signs of a recession, but that doesn’t mean we’re in a recession,” he told NJ101.5. “The economy is constantly flowing, changing. I don’t see us at the moment being in recession. But there clearly is potential for that.”