New Hampshire ended 2025 with about 4,000 fewer people working than it had a year earlier, yet the average paycheck grew across much of the state. That combination, fewer jobs but higher wages, captures an economy that looks healthy in the aggregate while leaving many workers wondering why the gains do not reach them.
The figures come from a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report tracking employment and wage data from December 2024 to December 2025, detailed in reporting by New Hampshire Public Radio. They land at a moment when Granite Staters are feeling real strain at the grocery store and the gas pump, and they help explain why a strong headline number can coexist with widespread unease.
Where the Jobs Went
The decline in employment is concentrated in a few areas. Greg David, assistant director of New Hampshire’s Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau, said much of it traces to a drop in government employment. Federal layoffs over the past year hit Granite State workers, and the state itself has held to what David described as “mostly a hiring freeze.” Layoffs at the University of New Hampshire counted toward the state job losses as well.
The private sector showed its own soft spots. Retail, wholesale trade, and manufacturing all shed jobs. “Those are the big losers in the last year,” David said. “Some of that’s tariff related, but manufacturing and wholesale have been losing for a couple of years.” That distinction matters: the manufacturing and wholesale declines are not a sudden shock but a slow erosion that predates the latest trade pressures.
There is another wrinkle beneath the topline. Nearly 19% of all state jobs are currently vacant, well above pre-pandemic levels. So the state is not simply running out of work. It is struggling to fill the work that exists, even as the total number of people employed falls. That gap points to deeper structural issues, from housing costs that make it hard to relocate to New Hampshire to a workforce that is aging faster than it is being replaced.
Wages Are Rising, but Unevenly
The brighter part of the report is pay. David said New Hampshire saw roughly 4.6% wage growth across the state over the year. “That is pretty solid,” he said, noting that it is encouraging to see wage growth keep pace with inflation.
The gains, however, are not spread evenly. Hillsborough County, home to Manchester and Nashua, recorded the highest increase in average weekly wages at 6.1%, with average weekly pay reaching $1,719. Other counties tell a very different story. In Coos County in the far north and Carroll County to its south, average weekly wages hovered around $1,100, far below the Hillsborough figure and barely more than half of it.
David cautioned that averages can mislead. Higher-paying jobs are concentrated in the state’s more populated areas, and a rising average does not mean everyone is doing better. “Higher wages can really lift the average even if you’re not seeing everybody gaining a lot,” he said. “This might be some lower-paying jobs declining and higher-level jobs gaining.” In other words, part of the wage growth may reflect the loss of lower-paid positions rather than raises for the people still working.
Inflation Eats Into the Gains
Whatever workers are earning, prices are chasing it. Costs in the Northeast rose 5% between 2025 and 2026, the biggest jump since February 2023. That regional increase outpaces the national inflation rate of 4.2%. So even a “solid” 4.6% statewide wage gain barely keeps ahead of price growth, and in the Northeast specifically, it falls behind.
For a worker in Coos or Carroll County earning around $1,100 a week, that math is unforgiving. Modest or no wage growth, paired with 5% price increases on the goods and services they actually buy, means a real loss in buying power. The result is an economy where the statistics say wages are up but many households feel like they are sliding backward.
A Familiar New Hampshire Story
This pattern is not new, and it connects to a longer-running tension in the state’s economy. New Hampshire consistently posts low unemployment and high labor force participation, the kinds of numbers that win national rankings. Beneath those numbers, though, workers have repeatedly found that the cost of living outruns their pay. That same disconnect drove earlier coverage showing that New Hampshire’s economy looks strong on paper while workers lose ground, and the latest federal data reinforces the point with fresh county-level detail.
The manufacturing slide deserves particular attention given the state’s efforts to rebuild that sector. New Hampshire has invested in advanced manufacturing as a path to higher-wage work, including initiatives like the workforce pipeline partnership at Cirtronics in Milford. Those programs aim to reverse exactly the kind of decline this report documents, but the data suggests the headwinds, from tariffs to long-term industry shifts, remain strong.
Tax policy is part of the backdrop too. New Hampshire’s appeal to employers rests heavily on its lack of a broad-based income or sales tax, and lawmakers continue to debate targeted relief such as the business enterprise tax exemption expanded for thousands of small businesses. Whether those measures can offset rising costs and a shrinking workforce is the open question this report leaves on the table.
What to Watch
The near-term signals are mixed enough to keep economists cautious. A high vacancy rate suggests employers still want to hire, which could support wages going forward. But persistent losses in manufacturing and wholesale, combined with a government hiring freeze and federal layoffs, point to continued contraction in total employment. And with Northeast inflation running ahead of the national rate, the squeeze on household budgets is unlikely to ease quickly.
For policymakers, the report sharpens a question that has dogged New Hampshire for years: how do you turn a strong-on-paper economy into one that workers across all ten counties can actually feel? The 4.6% statewide wage figure offers some hope. The gap between Hillsborough County and the North Country, and the 5% rise in regional prices, shows how much work remains.
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