America's Skilled Trades Dashboard
Explorer

All trades in New Jersey

Demand pressure60
Projected growth
42
Recent growth
52
Occupation mix
100
Wage path
30
Supply position42
Counted entrants
54
Training throughput
74
Age of workforce
10
Migration pull
30
High demand, low supply · New Jersey is clearly above the middle state on demand pressure and clearly below it on supply position.

Workforce

An overview of New Jersey's skilled trades workforce. Dots show where New Jersey sits among all states for this work; the line is the national figure or the median state, and the shaded band covers the middle half of states.
Workers
377k
+5% since 2019
20192025
21ktick is median state1.81M
Employment growth▲ 2.8% vs US
5.3%
2019 to 2025, up 19k workers
-7.6%tick is national22.6%
Aged 55 and over▲ 5% vs US
30%
Share of the current workforce aged 55+
18%tick is national32%
Under 25▼ 4% vs US
7%
Share of the current workforce aged under 25
4%tick is national18%
Five-year retention▼ 0% vs US
59%
Share of entrants working in any skilled trade five years later
50%tick is national70%
Part-time share▼ 0.6% vs US
7.9%
Economy-wide rate: 20.5% (trades nationally 8.5%)
5.7%tick is national10.8%

Pay

Levels, spread, and growth. OEWS May 2025, with a 2019 to 2025 history.
Median pay▲ $9k vs US
$66k
23.2% since 2019, before inflation
20192025
$50ktick is national$79k
Pay spread▲ $9k vs US
$44–98k
10th to 90th percentile
10th percentile
$44k
Median
$66k
90th percentile
$98k
$30ktick is national$64k
Pay premium over workers with the same education▲ 8.6% vs US
30.5%
Trades workers with a high school diploma against other workers with a high school diploma (ACS 2020–2024)
0.0%tick is national51.0%
Employment growth per year▲ 0.4% vs US
0.9%
Compound annual rate, 2019 to 2025
-1.3%tick is national3.5%

Entry & Training

How people typically enter this work, what exists here to train them, and how often training completes, against the national figure where one is published.
Typical way in▼ 1% vs US
61% trained
Share of this workforce in trades with a structured training route in
Registered apprenticeship
24%
College or CTE credential
36%
On the job training
28%
Open entry
11%
51%tick is national83%
Registered apprentices▼ 11 per 1k vs US
10k
All trades statewide · 88.5 per 1k workers in apprenticeship-route trades
33 per 1ktick is national284 per 1k
Apprenticeship completion
60%
Of pooled FY2021-24 exiters statewide
29%tick is median state68%
College trade-program completion▲ 10% vs US
50%
Degree-granting colleges only · institution cohorts, 16,831 students (IPEDS)
30%tick is national65%

Movement

Where this workforce comes from and where it goes. Click any state to trace it.
Arrive per year
4,692
ACS 2020-2024 annual average
Leave per year
7,107
ACS 2020-2024 annual average
Net per year
−2,415
Number arriving versus leaving
From abroad per year
3k
Arrivals from outside the United States
Net movement rate for trades workers
−0.62%/yr
Net change in number of skilled workers via interstate movement compared with overall trades workforce in the state. The equivalent figure for all workers is −0.43%/yr.
AKALARAZCACOCTDCDEFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMAMDMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENHNJNMNVNYOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVAVTWAWIWVWY
More leaving   Level   More arriving  · tile shade is each state's net movement.
Selected
New Jersey
All trades · movement of trades workers per year
4,692
arrived
7,107
left
−2,415
net

Growth

Where this work is heading: projected change.
Projected employment change▼ 1.1% vs US
4.1%
2024 to 2034, state long-term projections
-2.5%tick is national15.9%
This state against other states
60on demand pressure42on supply position

Supply & Demand

The map shades each state by its demand pressure: projected and realized demand, occupation mix and wage path. The score is an average of their percentiles on each measure compared with other states.

Demand pressure by state

AK
AL
AR
AZ
CA
CO
CT
DC
DE
FL
GA
HI
IA
ID
IL
IN
KS
KY
LA
MA
MD
ME
MI
MN
MO
MS
MT
NC
ND
NE
NH
NJ
NM
NV
NY
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SC
SD
TN
TX
UT
VA
VT
WA
WI
WV
WY
highest demand pressure · click a state to inspect it without leaving the page table view
Selected
New Jersey
All trades
60demand pressure
A higher demand pressure score indicates higher demand for skilled trades in this state.
377,190 workers
Projected growth
42
Recent growth
52
Occupation mix
100
Wage path
30

States by demand pressure

State index, a position among the 51
1Florida95
2Arizona93
3Georgia80
4Idaho78
5Tennessee77
6Texas74
7Montana73
8Utah71
9Colorado70
10Mississippi70
11Nevada70
12North Carolina68
The score is an average of the state's percentile positions on each measure - projected and realized demand, occupation mix and wage path - compared with other states, so 80 means high in the ranking, not higher than 80% of other states.

Shortage Pressure

The trades here are ranked on the Burning Glass Institute's Labor Shortage Index, which scores the structural pressure on filling the occupation from nine indicators, including workforce age, new entrants, part-time work, licensing, AI exposure and projected growth. Each occupation is ranked against every other occupation in the same state, so a reading of 90 means more pressure than 90% of occupations in that state. It is a risk score, not a count of unfilled jobs. The worker data come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, and occupations with fewer than 20 survey respondents in a state are not scored.

Trades in New Jersey by shortage pressure

Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored here
1Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters97
2Stationary engineers and boiler operators97
3Industrial and refractory machinery mechanics96
4Tool and die makers96
5Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic95
6Electric motor, power tool, and related repairers95
7Electricians93
8Construction and building inspectors92
9Carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers90
10Millwrights90
11Molders and molding machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic90
12First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers89
The score is the trade's Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored in New Jersey: 90 means more structural pressure on filling it than 90% of them, not more vacancies. 82 of 108 trades scored.