Section 7.
PROFILE
of New Jersey
During the past decade, New Jersey burst from
the recession and downsizing of the early 1990s to reap powerful gains in job
and corporate growth. Our state
attracted corporate and scientific talent from around the nation and the world,
and further cemented its strategic value to health care and other knowledge
industries.
Growth in New Jersey’s Economy
Between 1990 and 2000, New Jersey grew from 4.1 million to 4.4
million jobs—many of these providing high-quality work in knowledge-based
industries. Key indicators include:
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During the 1990s, poverty and unemployment were
below national averages.
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Over the past twenty years, the median family
income in New Jersey
nearly tripled.
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New
Jersey became a strong drawing card for advanced
technology workers during the 1990s, often luring talent from other
states. High-tech firms employ 59 out of
every 1,000 private sector workers in New
Jersey. New Jersey ranked 10th
in this proportion nationwide (American Electronics Association 2002).
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Between 1981 and 2002, the size of the service
industry more than doubled in the State to over 1.3 million jobs.
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Since 1987, the health care industry has
provided near double-digit job growth or better across the State (New York
Times, December 31, 2002).
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Manufacturing jobs declined from about 780,000
jobs to 420,000.
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The top six occupational areas in New Jersey through 2012
are projected to include office and administrative support occupations;
professional and related occupations; service occupations; sales and related
occupations; management, business and financial occupations; and transportation
and material moving occupations. Most of
these workers need at least an associate’s degree and many occupations require
a bachelor’s degree.
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However, the list of the ten fastest growing
occupations includes maintenance, home health care, child care workers, and
other jobs that continue to grow as a share of the workforce, but offer
relatively low pay and benefits.
A Study in Contrasts:
The Expanding Gap between the
Skilled and Unskilled
New Jersey’s
workforce reflects the disturbing national and global trend of the shrinking
middle. While as of June 2005 New Jersey’s
unemployment rate has dropped to 4.0%— 1.0% below the national average—the
poverty rate in New Jersey
is still far higher than the unemployment rate. Most importantly for the
future, the long-term economic changes seen in the US and New Jersey workforce
place a high premium on literacy, skill acquisition, mobility, and the ability
to manage work and family. For the poor
and working poor, these represent major barriers to self-sufficiency.
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It has been well documented that over a fifth of
New Jersey’s
adults read at the lowest literacy level.
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Nearly 40% function at a level of literacy
beneath that required by the labor market.
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Nearly eight in ten who received food stamps or
TANF are at the lowest levels of literacy, and about half of our high school
dropouts have reading levels well below the ninth grade.
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From 1979 to 1999, workers whose educational
attainment was high school or less found their incomes dropped by 27 percent
(SETC 2002).
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Nearly a third of the State’s households earn
less than $35,000 a year.
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Many low-income families do not receive public
assistance in New Jersey. In 1999, less than sixty percent of the State’s
poor children received cash assistance through traditional welfare programs
(Urban Institute).
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During 2000-2001, 5.9% of New Jersey families lived in poverty; 23% of
female-headed families did, as did nearly 10% of families with children under 6
years old.
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Between 1978 and 2001, the percent of those
working full-time in America
but remaining poor increased from 7.7 to 11.5 percent. This does not include the millions more every
year that eked out a living just above the poverty line.
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The majority (85%) of adults with incomes under
200% of poverty are working, but describe difficulties in paying for basic
shelter and necessities.
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In New
Jersey an average of 98,000 families lived in
poverty, comprising 177,000 people in poverty—the majority of them under age 18
(Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities 1999).
If New Jersey
is to continue to hold its place among the nation’s top high-income states, its
workforce must posses the skills needed to maintain productivity and growth. In
the 21st century, a lifelong commitment to learning new skills and upgrading
old ones is not an option but a necessity. This is why New Jersey places a high priority on
creating a strong Workforce Investment System.