New Jersey manufacturing employment peaked at nearly 900,000 jobs. That was in 1969.
It was one of the questions Nicol Nicola, director of economic research at the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, put before more than 1,000 attendees at the Made in NJ Manufacturing Day last Friday at iPlay America in Freehold.
To be clear, it wasn’t offered as a way to denigrate the sector. Instead, it was meant to show how the DOL — and its data — are available to help.
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Nicola said her office collects data on employers, workers and population and customizes it for businesses, nonprofits, job seekers and workforce boards. She compared it to ordering at a coffee shop.
“You could come to us and customize your data based on the project you’re working on,” she said.
With that concept in mind, we took her data for one of our projects: Five things data says about manufacturing in New Jersey.
Here goes:
5. Three industries lead the way
When Nicola quizzed the crowd on which industries drive New Jersey manufacturing, she pointed to three: food, chemicals, and computer and electronics. They’re the sector’s largest employers in the state, she said. That’s a mix of what New Jersey has always made, from food plants to chemical works, and what it makes now.
4. There’s steady employment … finally
The state lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the 1990s and nearly 160,000 more in the 2000s. But for the past decade and a half, employment has held steady at about 250,000. Food, chemicals and computer and electronics manufacturing are the sector’s largest employers.
3. It’s getting older
Across all industries in New Jersey, the share of workers 55 and older doubled from 1997 to 2025, from 13.5% to 27%. The share 34 and under fell from 39% to 32%. In manufacturing, workers 55 and older are the fastest-growing age group. That means a lot of institutional knowledge, Nicola said, and a challenge in attracting young people.
“How can we help them reimagine what manufacturing looks like today?” she asked.
2. It’s been slow to adopt AI
About 8% of New Jersey manufacturing job postings in 2026 are AI-related, up from less than 3% in 2018. Manufacturers’ actual use of AI is running well below what they had anticipated, she said, and that’s why AI-related hiring has been modest. Where AI is used, it helps optimize processes, find patterns in data and spot product defects.
1. Jobs. They’ve got jobs
Manufacturing job postings call for sales representatives, industrial and other engineers, production workers, marketers and project managers. Employers are looking for skills such as continuous improvement, inventory management and safety, along with leadership and customer service.
