New Plan Outlines Initiatives to Ensure All Career-Seeking New Jerseyans Have the Education and Training Necessary to Access High-Quality Employment and Ensure Businesses and Employers Can Quickly and Efficiently Fill Their Talent Needs


EAST BRUNSWICK – Alongside students, educators, cabinet members, elected officials, and business community leaders, Governor Phil Murphy today unveiled his talent-based economic development strategy – “Jobs NJ: Developing Talent to Grow Business in the Garden State” – to expand opportunities for career-seekers to gain skills and for employers to fill their talent needs.
“For New Jersey to succeed in the 21st century economy, we must close the gap between the needs of employers and the skills of prospective employees,” said Governor Murphy. “With our new plan, we are addressing this problem head-on by ensuring our residents have the critical training and education they need for jobs that are available and in-demand, and connecting them to those jobs. Together, we are changing our trajectory and transforming our state into one with a stronger and fairer economic future for generations to come.”

"Higher education plays a pivotal role in the state’s talent pipeline. It has the potential to change lives, to change businesses, and to change communities,” said Secretary of Higher Education Zakiya Smith Ellis. “We will continue to work with our sister agencies and stakeholders by building on progress from the state higher education plan so that we can make the Jobs NJ aspirations a reality for our state.”

“Governor Murphy’s JobsNJ plan is a bold, comprehensive plan to invest in New Jersey’s most important economic asset – our people,” EDA CEO Tim Sullivan said. “This is exactly the kind of inter-agency, whole of government approach that the Jobs and Economic Opportunity Council that the Governor convened was designed to foster.”

“The most significant successes we’ve seen for workers happen when we partner with employers in work-based learning programs,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “Because of Gov. Murphy’s vision for a stronger, fairer economy for all, we have significantly more apprentices, more employer partners, more non-traditional apprenticeship opportunities, and more minority participants than when the governor took office.”

“Here in New Jersey, we’re creating new pathways for success after high school,” said Dr. Lamont O. Repollet, Commissioner of Education. “Schools not only provide students with a world-class education, but more and more districts are offering pre-apprenticeship programs, career and technical education, and initiatives through which students earn industry-valued credentials or college credits while still in high school. All of this provides students with more options, and more opportunity.”

Jobs NJ helps to realize the promise of Governor Murphy’s economic plan and higher education plan, steering us further toward the goals of reclaiming New Jersey’s place as a center for innovation and preparing students for life after college in New Jersey’s economy. Jobs NJ builds on these efforts by creating a roadmap to achieve two mutually-reinforcing objectives – ensuring that all career-seeking New Jerseyans have the education and training necessary to access high-quality employment, and ensuring that businesses and employers offering high-quality employment can quickly and efficiently fill their talent needs in New Jersey.

The plan includes three strategic priorities, with targeted initiatives in order to support the following:

• Expand Access to Opportunity by increasing educational attainment among underrepresented minorities and other targeted populations and ensuring equal access to opportunities in all regions of the state.
• Train Individuals for In-Demand Jobs by connecting educational and training programs to industry needs and leading the region in programs that prepare adults for high-quality jobs throughout their entire careers.
• Match Talent to Jobs by ensuring access to up-to-date job information, celebrating employers that provide high-quality jobs, and creating a dedicated team to craft individualized solutions to complex access-to-labor problems.

Jobs NJ, a collaborative, whole of government approach to achieving these goals, was developed by the Governor’s Jobs and Economic Opportunity Council. Implementation will be led by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the New Jersey Department of Education. 

For more information or to read the plan, please visit https://nj.gov/jobsnj