January 15, 2013
Governor Christie Announces
Sandy Job Initiatives to Help Storm
Impacted Communities and Businesses
Recover and Put People Back to Work
With the recovery
and rebuilding process fully
underway, Governor Chris Christie
toured a restoration project in the
storm-impacted community of Bradley
Beach where workers hired through a
National Emergency Grant (NEG) are
on the job repairing the town’s
beachfront area. Bradley Beach is
one of dozens of communities in 11
New Jersey counties that have put
428 unemployed people to work on
storm clean-up using the $15.6
million grant obtained by the
Christie Administration in the wake
of Hurricane Sandy. Another 650
people are slated to be brought in
up to five other counties.
Sandy was the worst storm to strike
New Jersey in 100 years. It damaged
or destroyed 346,000 homes, knocked
out power to nearly 7 million people
and 1,000 schools, and caused the
evacuation or displacement of
116,000 New Jerseyans - 41,000 of
whom are still displaced from their
homes. The storm also cost the state
over 8,000 jobs in November, making
the Governor’s job and recovery
initiatives essential to getting
people back to work.
“New Jersey is rebuilding from Sandy
with pride and determination,” said
Governor Christie. “With the NEG
grant and the $26 million being
released through three programs we
have initiated -- Recovery4Jersey,
Skills4Jersey and Opportunity4Jersey
– we are helping Sandy-impacted
businesses and workers, as well as
investing in our future economic
growth. New Jersey, its citizens,
communities and businesses are
resilient and I assure you that we
will leave no stone unturned in
bringing the Garden State back
better than ever.”
Governor Christie said other
recovery initiatives also are in
full swing, noting that nearly 200
Garden State employers have already
applied for grants under the $26
million economic recovery package he
launched four weeks ago.
Under Skills4Jersey, $11 million in
training grants is being made
available to help New Jersey
employers upgrade the occupational,
literacy and safety skills of their
current employees and train new
workers for purposes of retaining
highly skilled and high wage jobs in
the state.
Recovery4Jersey is a two part
program involving the initial
release of $4 million to encourage
businesses to train existing
employees and hire new workers in
the recovery effort. For example,
utility companies are eligible for
grants to hire staff to improve
their services; planning firms
working on infrastructure repairs
may bring on engineers and
recovering Mom & Pop shops may train
employees on new equipment purchased
to replace operations damaged by the
storm. Phase II of Recovery4Jersey,
to be launched next month, will
release another $7 million.
Under Opportunity4Jersey, $4 million
is being awarded to consortiums of
training organizations and community
colleges with direct ties to New
Jersey employers to address a
“skills gap” employers identified in
New Jersey even before Sandy hit.
“We have businesses telling us they
have job openings, but can’t find
workers with the necessary skills to
fill them. We can help by involving
employers with job openings in the
training process. We were successful
with this in a pilot program last
year,” said Labor Commissioner Hal
Wirths.
Governor Christie also announced
that $500,000 will be made available
today to create two new Talent
Networks: a Sandy Recovery Talent
Network and a Retail, Hospitality
and Tourism Talent Network. The plan
capitalizes on the success of the
State’s six existing Talent
Networks, previously established
around industry clusters that employ
more than half of New Jersey’s
workers and pay more than two-thirds
of wages paid in the state.
The Networks provide a conduit for
employers to identify the exact
needs and challenges in the business
community, especially in terms of
employing new workers. The Sandy
Recovery Network will allow
employers to report the hurdles,
needs and demands they face in
trying to rebuild and hire new
workers. The Retail, Hospitality and
Tourism Talent Network will
represent a key industry cluster in
New Jersey that, before the storm,
accounted for about 24 percent of
all our private sector workers and
paid more than $20 billion in annual
wages.
|
 New Jersey Business |
 |
- Dorfman: Do Nothing stocks can often get a lot done
While the Do Nothing Club is a somewhat frivolous idea, there is a point behind it.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
- Many Hurricane Sandy insurance claims closed without payment, data shows
Six months out from the Oct. 29 storm, the industry’s closure rate looks impressive: 95 percent of New Jersey’s Sandy claims had been closed. But a Star-Ledger review of state data shows that nearly one out of every four closed claims resulted in no payment to a policyholder
Sunday, May 19, 2013
- Adubato: Empathy, compassion keys to connecting with others
How many of us are turned off because we say hello to someone who doesn’t respond. We are convinced they are rude when in fact they may have a “19-year-old son on life support.”
Sunday, May 19, 2013
- Get With The Plan: Paying for college, retirement, within reach
Strategies to make paying for college and funding retirement a successful duel-goal
Sunday, May 19, 2013
- Biz Brain: What a revocable trust can do for you
When it makes sense to use a revocable trust
Sunday, May 19, 2013
|
|
|
|
