New Jersey has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and yet many employers say they can’t find workers to fill open positions or even apply.
Republican gubernatorial challenger Jack Ciattarelli has blamed Governor Phil Murphy for extending special unemployment benefits for too long. But those benefits ended almost two months ago, and workers have still been slow to return.
As the race between Murphy and Ciattarelli hits the home stretch this week, whoever takes charge of the state will have to grapple with the long-term effects of the pandemic.
“The road back is very, very long, and it's going to take a while,” said Jim Hughes at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
New Jersey’s unemployment rate dropped slightly this month to 7.1% (tied with New York), but there’s still a serious worker shortage. Some of the people who are unemployed are worried about the coronavirus or are looking for something better, experts say. More than 700,000 jobs were lost in March and April of 2020 but only about two-thirds have since been recovered, with shortages hitting restaurants, hotels and the healthcare industry the hardest.
“It's just frustrating because when it comes to restaurants, they have had so many hits, not only the staffing issues, but obviously prior to that, all of the restrictions,” said Dana Lancellotti, president and CEO of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association. She said whoever is the next governor needs to dedicate more federal coronavirus aid to help hotels and restaurants. “There is an urgent need now.”
Ciattarelli, a former Assemblyman, said the state needed to act sooner to cut off the extra $300 weekly unemployment benefits.
“We ended up with a situation we had with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation and yet everywhere you went there was a help wanted sign,” he said at the October gubernatorial debate. “We in government needed to challenge ourselves: Take care of the hardship cases, cut the benefits and get people back to work.”
But Ciattarelli hasn’t said what else he’d do to bring back the workforce. His campaign referred to his jobs platform which cites lowering taxes on businesses.
Republican governors in about two dozen states cut off the special $300 dollar weekly benefits ahead of schedule this summer, despite the federal government’s offer to keep paying for it. Murphy ended the benefit on Labor Day weekend when the federal dollars ran out.
Hughes said while people probably took advantage of the “free lunch” by taking the extra benefits, that didn’t drive the labor shortage. He said the unemployment checks actually put money back into the economy at a crucial time. People are still worried about the coronavirus, baby boomers are retiring in higher numbers and the population — pre-pandemic — has been growing slower in the region, he said.
“Another factor is people are taking their time, choosing a new job, even if they're capable of working, and want to go back to work, they're not going to jump back into the old job,” Hughes said. “They realize there's better jobs out there. There's better career paths.”
Murphy meanwhile has rolled out a “return and earn” program offering people $500 cash incentives to go back to work and covering up to $10,000 in wages for employee training. But it’s only for companies with fewer than 100 workers, and he didn’t roll it out until last month.
The state Department of Labor told WNYC/Gothamist that staff had reached out to 3,330 employers interested in the program and so far committed to spending $150,000. A spokeswoman said the program was just ramping up and the department was still vetting employers.
“The workforce development piece with cash on the barrel for the employee we think will work,” Murphy said at the October debate. “If it does, we're going to expand that program dramatically.”
While jobs and the economy normally weigh heavily on a candidate, Rowan University political scientist Ben Dworkin said everything this year is tied to the pandemic, which bodes well for Murphy.
“All the other traditional issues like taxes, like jobs, like education have to go through the COVID filter,” he said. And on COVID, “Murphy is coming out on top.”
Dworkin says the public generally agrees with how Murphy has handled the pandemic — even as the economy struggles to restart. The Monmouth University poll released this week found Murphy is leading Ciattarelli by 11 points.
At a mega job fair at Rowan College of South Jersey this month, about 100 employers lined up in neat rows, each making their pitch to job-seekers. One bakery said they raised the minimum wage last month to $15.50 an hour. A manufacturing plant said workers could get medical benefits starting day one. And a healthcare provider said it wasn’t about money, but helping people’s loved ones.
“A lot of people are coming up, looking for either part-time work, flexible work arrangements or administrative work,” said Kaitlyn Conboy who works in human resources at Corning Incorporated, which operates a glass manufacturing facility in Vineland. “We don't have the option to shut down if, let's say, your kids’ school goes out because they have a COVID outbreak.”
She said the company has more than two dozen open positions even though Corning offers a 401k and pension and medical benefits that all start the first day on the job.
Workers at the fair, on the other hand, said they felt empowered to pick their next jobs more wisely.
“I feel like my options are more open now than before,” said Jason Carr, 39, a truck driver looking for managerial opportunities. “It feels like we have the upper hand now.”
