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Politics & Government

Labor Head: For N.J. Job Growth, We Need Mentors

Wirths speaks at seventh annual United Way Public Officials Forum.

New Jersey is turning the corner on job creation, adding 32,000 jobs so far this year, state labor commissioner Harold Wirths said Monday.

Speaking at the seventh annual United Way Public Officials Forum at St. Elizabeth’s College, Wirths said the state added 20,000 jobs in 2010, reversing the loss of 200,000 jobs in 2009.

Wirths, a former Sussex County freeholder, told the audience of 150 officials from business, government and the non-profit community, that Gov. Chris Christie’s policies that emphasize ending the state government’s spending spree, moderating government regulation and supporting key changes in the approach to job creation are having an impact.

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New Jersey has  a $2 trillion economy, with 100 million consumers within a day’s drive, and Garden State businesses can deliver goods to 40 percent of the U.S  population in that time, he said.

Started in 2004, the United Way forum has raised the issues of meeting the needs of the state’s youth, its military families, and in need of affordable housing.

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“What the governor and this administration have been doing is creating an atmosphere of growth and prosperity for the businesses and industries that are able to create jobs we need to revive the state’s economy,” Wirths said.

A panel of business and education leaders supported Wirths’ discussion in a wide-ranging discussion that focused on the need to develop not just reading, writing and math skills in school, but skills that allow students to develop self-confidence, critical thinking, leadership and teamwork qualities, to be productive in the modern workplace.

John Franklin, chief executive officer of the United Way of Northern New Jersey, said a key to these goals is mentoring, which can give a student an opportunity to learn skills not taught in schools.

Partnerships between businesses, schools and colleges, government agencies and community groups will be a key to changing the business atmosphere in the state, the speakers said.

Wirths said his department is rolling out improvements to its Jobs4Jersey website that, with an improved database, will better connect job-seekers with jobs, while the department develops programs to retrain workers with skills that are needed  by current employers.

“It is a waste of time and money to continue training and educating our workforce for jobs that no longer exist or jobs that are disappearing due t a changing economy,” he said.

Wirths said his department targeted seven business sectors where job growth is the most  likely: transportation, logistics and distribution; life sciences, centered on the state’s pharmaceutical industries; advanced manufacturing; financial services; health care; technology and entrepreneurship; and green industries.

Another key effort, Wirths said,  is the creation of “talent networks”  around these seven major groups that act as a resource that organizes businesses, schools, government and civic groups to develop training program that produce workers with skills needed by the state’s employers.

A key point made by the panel of Steve Baert of Novartis; Cary Cherniss of Rutgers University; and John-Anthony Meza of Corporate Voices for Working Families was that basic skills will no longer be adequate for employment in U.S. businesses because, Beart said, those businesses are not competing with others in the state or region, but rather others on the global stage.

Other nations are training workers for new jobs faster than the United States, he said.

More emphasis is being placed on skills that show professionalism, leadership, team-building, communication and self-awareness, he said. Self-awareness leads to a recognition of one’s faults and insight into how to manage them, as well as one's key abilities and how to maximize their potential, he said.

The future will be won by those who can innovate, lead and make others better, the panel said.

Meza said a concern is that New Jersey businesses are spending considerable time and money retraining workers for basic skills. The panel called for a deeper collaboration between schools, colleges and businesses to correct this situation.

Franklin said a key to the partnerships discussed at the forum is the ability of people to find mentors.

He said that he met last week with his old boss at Montgomery Ward, where Franklin was an industrial designer. Franklin said that the man, Ray Malek, presented him with the opportunity to learn design in a way that focused on understanding the entire process—from manufacturing to the work of buyers and the sales force—to get a better picture of what the machine he was designing meant to others.

“He was helping me understand that great design was about listening to others and designing  the product for everyone who touched it along the way,” Franklin said.

He said that over the years, the lessons he was taught by Malek and others lead to the mentoring he now does for many youths.

United Way, he said, developed a program called the Youth Empowerment Alliance that at its heart is a mentoring program. But, he said, it is also a way to address many of the key issues raised by the panel, especially the need for critical thinking, leadership and communication.

“We developed a mentoring network to ensure our youngest teens have a strong foundation and develop the social and emotional skills necessary to thrive and school and life,” Franklin said.

The program produces results, he said. At Eisenhower Middle School in Roxbury, intergenerational mentors work with the young teens, listen to what they say and have given them a place to test themselves, work on teams and manage conflicts.

Test scores at the school rose 14 percent and suspensions have  decreased  by 50 percent, he said.

Franklin challenged the audience to get involved.

“Everyone here today has an important role to play in shaping this country’s future success. A generation ago America led the world  in college attainment. Today, America’s youth have slipped to 12th place in the world  behind Canada, Korea and Japan,” he said.

“If we do nothing about this disconnect it will only grow, putting us on a collision course where the skills employers need and the preparation our youth receive don’t match.”

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