Jobless Claims Tick Up in New Jersey as Tech Job Cuts Climb in 2026

Two different readings of the same data

Whether jobless claims are rising right now depends on which number you look at. For the week ending Oct. 3, the Labor Department's advance count of raw, unadjusted initial claims nationwide came to 170,333. That was up 11,994, or 7.6%, from the week before.22 New Jersey moved the same way. First-time claims in the state reached 7,990, which is 598 more than the previous week's 7,392.22 So for a regional business segment, "jobless claims are up" is accurate.

The seasonally adjusted national figure, which is the one economists and markets follow, points the other way. Adjusted initial claims fell by 2,000 to 197,000. That is the lowest level since July and the fourth week in a row below 200,000.21 The difference comes from the adjustment itself. Seasonal models expected raw claims to rise about 8.7% that week. The actual rise was smaller, so the adjusted figure went down.24

The best way to read this is that layoffs across the whole economy are still low, while job losses keep hitting particular industries and places. Technology stands out most, and it has a direct line to New Jersey's workforce. Watching the weekly claims number tells workers little about how the market feels to them. Hiring is the bigger problem.

Few layoffs, but very little hiring

The national figures look strong on the surface. The four-week average of initial claims is 198,000, the lowest since autumn 2022.24 Continuing claims rose 17,000 to 1,716,000, but that is still close to the more-than-three-year low reached a week earlier.28 The insured unemployment rate stayed at 1.1%, down from 1.3% a year earlier.24 Earlier in 2026, claims dropped to 189,000 in mid-July, a level last seen in 1969.24

The broader data is weaker. Employers added only 29,000 jobs in September, and unemployment was 4.2%.24 July payrolls were revised to a loss of 10,000. One analysis notes the layoff rate is still about 1.0%, which puts the slowdown in hiring rather than firing.34 Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm, reported that employers announced plans to hire 90,787 workers in September. That is the weakest September since 2011 and 23% below a year earlier.32

As a result, people who lose their jobs now have more trouble finding new ones, even though fewer people are being laid off. Low initial claims combined with stubborn continuing claims is what you would expect when companies keep their staff but rarely add to it. Andy Challenger said employers are in a "wait-and-see period."33 He pointed to high energy costs, uncertainty over the war in Iran, a Federal Reserve rate increase that could raise the cost of hiring, and expected jumps in healthcare costs.39

Tech is driving the job cuts

Total announced job cuts are falling, but technology is moving the opposite way. Employers announced 43,281 cuts in September, 18% fewer than in August and the lowest September total since 2022.32 Tech companies, however, announced 10,799 cuts that month, up 77% from August's 6,103.39 So far this year the tech sector has announced 165,925 cuts. That is 29% of all U.S. announcements and 54% more than at the same point in 2025.3239

The overall 39% drop from last year can also mislead. Most of it comes from government, where announced cuts are down 92% after the federal workforce reductions of 2025. Leaving government out, cuts are down only about 15%, and tech, transportation, fintech and food employers have all announced more cuts than they had by this point last year.32

Another measure points the same way. CompTIA, a tech industry group, estimated that the tech sector lost 10,350 positions in September. Counting tech jobs at companies outside the sector, the total fell by about 6,000, after a gain of 86,000 in August.39

The October layoffs so far

Companies kept announcing cuts in the first two weeks of October:

• Netflix is reportedly preparing to cut about 850 jobs, around 5% of its staff.1517
• HubSpot expects to cut about 660 positions, or 7% of its workforce, as it shifts toward AI. Reports say the cuts focus on management layers.1518
• Amazon reportedly cut fewer than 1,000 corporate workers in its stores division, which runs its e-commerce site. Employees in the U.S., India and the U.K. were affected.13 This follows about 30,000 cuts in rounds last October and January.13
• Workday plans to cut 2.5% of its global workforce.13 A state filing shows 142 permanent cuts at its Pleasanton, Calif., headquarters, effective Nov. 30.12
• Airtable laid off what its new owner, Bending Spoons, called a "large part" of the team. The company said the decision reflected its view that small teams ship better products, not the workers' performance.13
• Flock Safety is cutting about 270 jobs, or 18% of its staff, and Microsoft is cutting R&D jobs in Israel.15

The reported numbers do not always line up. One tracker lists Workday's layoffs at 525 employees, while California's state filing covers 142 workers at one site.1612 The likely explanation is that one figure is company-wide and the other covers only the California office, but readers should treat headline totals carefully. Worker forums are also passing around claims of much larger cuts, including 15,000 at Amazon and 2,000 at Electronic Arts. These are labeled as rumors and remain unconfirmed.14

The Bay Area shows how uneven the picture is. Local tech layoffs have slowed in recent months. Even so, state layoff notices for 2026 already cover just over 14,000 Bay Area tech jobs, 38% more than the 10,170 recorded in all of 2025.12

How much of this is really AI?

Artificial intelligence is the most common reason companies give for cuts in 2026, but the numbers are less clear than they look. Through September, employers cited AI for 120,136 announced cuts, about 21% of the total.32 In 2025, AI accounted for roughly 4.5% of announced cuts.40

Month by month, though, AI is mentioned less often. In September it was cited for 3,961 cuts, about 9% of the month's total. That made it only the fifth most common reason, behind market and economic conditions, closings, falling demand and restructuring.33 One analysis found that 85% of this year's AI-linked cuts were announced before July. AI's share of monthly cuts dropped from 33% in July to 9% in September.34

There is also a real question about whether "AI" describes the actual cause. Challenger records the reason a company states, not what happened to the work. Andy Challenger himself has said that naming AI in a layoff announcement can appeal to investors.35 A Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey of firms in New York and northern New Jersey found that 61% of service firms use AI, but only 4% had laid off workers because of it.34 AI is still a real factor, but the evidence suggests it shows up mostly in who doesn't get hired, not in mass firings. Companies seem to be using it to justify cuts they had other reasons to make, and to slow hiring, more than to replace workers outright.

What this means for New Jersey

New Jersey's labor market does not have the concentration of tech headquarters that California does. Still, the state's weekly figures match the national pattern. New claims rose in the latest week. Meanwhile the number of New Jerseyans receiving ongoing benefits fell slightly, by 556 to 84,973.22

The state's own cuts are happening mostly in life sciences, not software. Novartis notified the state of 322 layoffs at its East Hanover site, its fourth round there, bringing the total to 572.19 Amicus Therapeutics, now part of BioMarin, is cutting 58 jobs at its former Princeton headquarters, with layoffs running through Oct. 30.19

New Jersey has been here before. In August 2022, claims reached an eight-month high, Walmart and several tech companies announced cuts, and economists called it a clear sign of rising layoffs.1 That interpretation fit a cooling job market. In 2026 the situation is different. Layoffs overall are close to historic lows, but hiring is weak enough that each cut is harder on the worker who loses the job.

What comes next

The next weekly claims report comes out Oct. 15, and forecasts range from 195,000 to 200,000.24 A single week matters less than whether continuing claims start to rise. If they go above 1.75 million while initial claims stay above 210,000, that could mean weak hiring is starting to turn into actual layoffs.24 Challenger's October report, due in early November, will show whether September's jump in tech cuts continued, and whether companies go back to blaming AI.34

For now, people working in tech and life sciences are dealing with frequent rounds of cuts and few job openings. The low national claims figure doesn't change that.