By Richard Eib | Jersey Hired
Twenty-five years ago, people across New Jersey left home for what should have been an ordinary Tuesday.
They boarded trains, caught buses, drove to work, and stepped onto ferries crossing the Hudson. They carried briefcases, lunches, and plans for the evening. There were meetings to attend, customers to help, and colleagues expecting them.
For so many families, that ordinary morning became the dividing line between everything before and everything after.
On the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001, we remember the lives taken, the families changed forever, and the people who responded with extraordinary courage. Here in New Jersey, we also remember how deeply that day reached into our communities and working lives.
At Jersey Hired, our work centers on employment. This anniversary asks us to pause and recognize the people behind that word: their relationships, their contributions, and the futures they should have had.
How 9/11 Changed New Jersey
The Hudson River separates New Jersey from Manhattan geographically. Our families, workplaces, and daily routines have long connected the two.
That connection made September 11 profoundly personal across our state.
New Jersey’s official Empty Sky Memorial at Liberty State Park honors 750 people who lived in or had ties to New Jersey and lost their lives in the attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Each name represents a person whose absence continues to be felt.
The impact extended through households, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. A person lost at work was also someone expected at the dinner table, on the sidelines of a game, or at a family celebration.
For families who lost someone, twenty-five years includes birthdays, graduations, weddings, and everyday moments that person should have shared.
The Loss to New Jersey’s Workforce Was Deeply Human
To speak about the workforce lost on 9/11 is to speak about people whose working lives ended without warning.
The World Trade Center brought together people across occupations and levels of experience: finance and insurance professionals, administrative staff, restaurant workers, maintenance teams, security personnel, and technology specialists. Emergency responders entered danger to help others escape.
Their loss reached far beyond any single company or industry.
A colleague can be the person who teaches a new employee, steadies a team during a difficult week, or notices when someone needs help. Over time, those everyday acts become part of how a workplace functions.
When someone dies, an organization may eventually fill a position. The relationships and shared history remain irreplaceable.
For surviving families, grief could also come with the loss of household income, benefits, and financial security. Plans built around two incomes or a parent’s career suddenly required difficult decisions at an already devastating time.
Remembering the workforce lost on September 11 means honoring all of those contributions, to employers, to families, and to communities.
How the Attacks Disrupted Work Across the Region
The attacks also disrupted the systems that connected New Jersey residents to their jobs.
The World Trade Center PATH station was destroyed, severing a crucial rail connection to Lower Manhattan. A temporary station opened on November 23, 2003, more than two years later. Its reopening restored an essential route for the region’s commuters.
Businesses faced the loss of colleagues alongside damaged offices, displaced operations, and interrupted transportation. Returning to work could mean a different location, a different commute, and the emotional difficulty of continuing without familiar people.
The employment picture also requires care. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics documented a substantial movement of jobs from Lower Manhattan into New Jersey after the destruction of the World Trade Center and adjacent buildings, affecting employment estimates in finance, insurance, and real estate.
Those relocations help explain why employment figures alone cannot capture what New Jersey experienced. A job moving across the river could appear as employment growth in state statistics while the people involved were coping with profound loss and disruption.
Economic recovery and personal recovery followed very different timelines.
When the Daily Commute Became a Rescue Mission
One of the most meaningful stories of September 11 unfolded on the water between Manhattan and New Jersey.
Ferries that ordinarily carried commuters became part of an emergency evacuation. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum recounts how NY Waterway founder Arthur E. Imperatore’s ferries helped carry evacuees from Manhattan to safety in New Jersey and other destinations.
The same skills used to move people through a normal workday became essential to helping them survive an extraordinary one.
That story deserves a place in how we remember New Jersey’s workforce. Experience, judgment, and a willingness to help mattered enormously. People put what they knew how to do into the service of strangers.
For a community built around work, there is a lasting lesson in that response: our skills have value beyond our job descriptions.
The Impact of 9/11 Continues
For some responders and survivors, the consequences of September 11 remain part of daily life.
The federal World Trade Center Health Program provides monitoring and treatment for eligible responders and survivors with qualifying 9/11-related health conditions. Its continuing work is a reminder that the human impact did not end when the recovery operations concluded.
Employers should approach this anniversary with that understanding. Someone may be carrying grief, a difficult memory, or an ongoing health concern that colleagues know little about.
Compassion can be practical: flexibility for a memorial service, privacy around personal experiences, and space for employees to decide whether they want to participate in workplace remembrance.
No one should have to share their story to have their loss respected.
How New Jersey Employers Can Honor the 25th Anniversary
A meaningful observance begins with care for the people affected.
For New Jersey employers and teams, that might include:
- Making room for remembrance. Offer an optional moment of silence and flexibility for employees attending memorials.
- Learning the local history. Read about the people remembered in your community and share reliable educational resources with younger colleagues.
- Supporting service. Organize a voluntary food drive, community cleanup, or other activity responding to a local need.
- Practicing compassion throughout the year. Treat bereavement, illness, and caregiving responsibilities with patience and respect.
September 11 is recognized as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Volunteering offers a way to honor those lost through an act of care for someone living today.
For younger members of the workforce who have no personal memory of 2001, these actions can also help connect history to the communities they now call home.
Remembering at Empty Sky
At Liberty State Park in Jersey City, the two walls of Empty Sky frame a view toward the place where the Twin Towers once stood.
The memorial’s engraved names invite visitors to slow down and recognize individual lives. Dedicated on September 11, 2011, it gives New Jersey a lasting place for reflection.
On this 25th anniversary, that invitation matters.
We can pause long enough to read a name. Learn a story. Listen to someone who wants to remember. Give our time to a neighbor who needs it.
At Jersey Hired, we believe the strength of New Jersey begins with its people. Today, we honor those who never came home, those who helped others reach safety, and those who continue to live with the consequences of that day.
We remember the work they did, the people they loved, and the lives they should have been able to continue.
Twenty-five years later, New Jersey remembers.