State officials on Feb. 17 published a long-awaited slate of recommendations laying out how the New Jersey workforce of the 21st century needs to change in the decades to come.

The 179-page report, which was first ordered by the Murphy administration in 2019 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, delves into “how technological advancements will shape the future of New Jersey’s economy and workforce.”

Future of work has been something that the tech industry has been tinkering with for years, especially following a global pandemic that gave enough people a taste of telecommuting arrangements, which has fostered resistance from many to the return to a 40-hour, in-office workweek.

“In a rapidly changing economy directly impacted by the development of new technology, inequality, and the challenges of the climate crisis, we have an important and urgent role to play in equipping our workers to be successful,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in the Thursday announcement.

“Creating opportunities for new industries, well-paid work, and paths for career growth will be essential to our economy and to easing the fear and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had an enormous impact on the state labor market and work environment,” he continued in a message accompanying the report.

The recommendations range from state financing for continuing education and training programs for low-income workers, to education workers’ rights and employee misclassification laws; expanded access to low and no-cost higher education tuition assistance programs; and upgrades to the state’s pandemic-ravaged, beleaguered unemployment system.

Beth Simone Noveck – New Jersey’s chief innovation officer and chair of the state task force that publicized the recommendations – added Thursday that the goal of those recommendations – and any ensuing actions – is to “measurably improve opportunities for workers in New Jersey.”

Worker mobility

Several of the recommendations center on the job search process, education and training, and the ability for workers to upskill themselves.

For example, the task force recommended continued expansions to the Community College Opportunity Grant program, which provides zero-cost tuition at many of New Jersey’s two-year community colleges, and similar expansions to the Garden State Guarantee program, under which the state covers the remaining two years’ tuition for certain state colleges.

The state should also expand its existing apprenticeship and other career and technical education programs run by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development and other agencies. There are currently 8,961 active apprenticeships across 1,160 programs, the task force said in its report.

In a rapidly changing economy directly impacted by the development of new technology, inequality, and the challenges of the climate crisis, we have an important and urgent role to play in equipping our workers to be successful.
— Gov. Phil Murphy

The recommendations include the expansion and development of the New Jersey Career Network virtual coaching program, so that those on unemployment can more easily find a new job. Meanwhile, the state’s Training Explorer, still in its development stages, needs to be fully brought online so that New Jersey workers can learn about different training and learning opportunities, the task force recommended.

A “Business One Stop” website needs to be created and developed, so as to “make it easier for businesses to start, maintain, and grow, and hire workers,” the report reads.

Employers should be encouraged – such as through financial incentives – to “invest in worker training, lifelong learning and re-employment.”

One such program exists, called Return & Earn, under which the state provides subsidies for a $500 hiring bonus, and up to $10,00 per worker in training wages, for someone entering a new industry.

Workers’ rights

New Jersey’s worker’s rights are robust as is, the report notes, but the means by which to enforce those laws, and the awareness of those rights, still has ample room for improvement.

That ranges from enforcement of the state’s worker misclassification laws – where employees are illegally classified as independent contractors so businesses can skimp out on taxes, employee benefits, and labor protections – to the broader naming and shaming of bad actors.

Murphy signed a package of bills last summer that ramp up the state’s ability to clamp down on the practice by enacting heavy fines and stop-work orders at worksites where misclassification is identified.

The state is also recommended to “explore the creation” of a so-called Portable Benefits System for “nontraditional workers,” such as freelancers. Lawmakers floated such a concept early in 2020 where companies that use freelancers would pay into an independent entity that provides those workers with health, retirement, paid leave and other workplace benefits.

And, the task force recommends an “employer education initiative” about the “risks of algorithmic hiring tools” that might inadvertently take part in discriminatory hiring practices.