State of New Jersey secondary Archives: on Jobs
Bonnie Watson Coleman:
Move from a minimum wage to a living wage
The gap between the wealthiest and most in need is one that will continue to divide rather than unite our country. To ensure that Americans, of all backgrounds have an opportunity to pursue the American Dream, we must move from a minimum wage to a living
wage. Without a living wage, countless Americans continue to struggle to provide a decent life for their families, but because of low wages, they are only able to obtain the bare minimum.
Bonnie Watson Coleman was a lead advocate in New Jersey for the successful "Raise the Wage" campaign to increase the minimum wage in New Jersey. See Bonnie's interview with NJTV here regarding her efforts, alongside New Jersey's Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono on raising the minimum wage as a referendum question on the ballot. In Congress, Bonnie Watson Coleman will continue to support legislation that guarantee workers a living wage.
Source: 2014 New Jersey House campaign website BonnieForCongress.com
Oct 10, 2014
Chris Christie:
Focus on reducing unemployment but not government employment
Since last January, the total number of people employed in New Jersey has grown by over 90,000, and the number of unemployed has dropped by nearly 30,000.- We recorded our 5th consecutive year of private sector job
growth, and the unemployment rate continues to steadily go down.
- We have attracted and retained companies--from Subaru USA to the Philadelphia 76ers to Sandoz.
-
We have grown our economy and more people are working, supporting their families and knowing the power of going to work every day in New Jersey today than one year ago.
-
We have done this while holding the line on government spending and government employment.
Source: State of the State address to 2015 New Jersey Legislature
Jan 13, 2015
Cory Booker:
1/3 of all NJ development is in Newark, where only 3% live
Q: As the Mayor of Newark: Unemployment there is over 13%. Why have you not been able to make more progress in this particular area?BOOKER: Well, politics is a zero-sum game. The spirit of Martin Luther King taught me that love multiplies and hate
divides. We've got too much division going on in our politics. Where people come together, you make remarkable results. Well, Chris Christie and I disagree on most things.
But if we just sat back in our relative partisan positions, we wouldn't have gotten anything together. The fact that we've come together right now has created the largest economic development period in Newark in over a generation.
In fact, we are 3% of the state's population with a third of all the development in New Jersey is going on in Newark, in commercial multi-families. Our biggest boom, period, because we found ways to get together.
Source: Meet the Press 2013 on 2014 New Jersey Senate race
Aug 25, 2013
Cory Booker:
$1,000 tax credit for job-training apprenticeships
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Tim Scott (R-SC), the two African-American members of the US Senate, are bridging significant political differences and teaming up on legislation for the first time.Booker and Scott are unveiling a proposal that would
promote apprenticeships in highly-skilled trades, a move designed to help fill millions of technical jobs in the construction, manufacturing energy and telecommunications industries, while also creating jobs for younger Americans, especially minorities
struggling to find work.
Booker and Scott's LEAP Act (Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs) would provide tax credits to employers who offer apprenticeships to younger job applicants. Companies that offer apprenticeships to
people under age 25 would receive a $1,500 tax credit and a $1,000 credit for apprentices above age 25. Apprenticeships, unlike office internships, offer a combination of on-the-job training and instruction in highly-skilled occupations.
Source: Washington Post on 2014 New Jersey Senate race
Apr 9, 2014
Cory Booker:
Great Recession decreased hourly wages overall
Too many New Jerseyans are still hurting. While the economy has started to come back from the worst economic downturn in generations, New Jersey was the last state in the country to join the jobs recovery, and we continue to lag behind.
Even among those who are employed, too many are finding that jobs aren't paying like they used to. Paychecks are getting smaller and bills are piling up.
Occupations in fields such as construction and manufacturing, with median hourly wages of $13.84 to $21.13--the middle third of the pay scale--accounted for 60 percent of job losses during the worst part of the recession. As the recovery progressed,
however, those jobs didn't come back. Instead, it was lower-wage occupations--those with median hourly wages of $7.69 to $13.83--that accounted for 58 percent of all job growth.
Source: 2013-2014 New Jersey Senate campaign web CoryBooker.com
Nov 3, 2013
Cory Booker:
Gender wage gap problematic; minority wage gap worse
America has come a long way in the struggle for equal rights but we are still far short of realizing the promise of our ideals. For every dollar a New Jersey man earns, on average, a woman earns only 79 cents for equal work. That reflects some
improvement from the 59 cents women in made 50 years ago, but the wage gap today is even more problematic because the number of female breadwinners has quadrupled. To add to this injustice, nationally, African American and Latina women earn only
64 cents and 55 cents, respectively, for every dollar their male counterparts earn.Our work will not be done until we live in a nation where equal work means equal pay. And that's why, as your Senator, I will work to make the long overdue promises
advanced by the 2009 enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act a reality by supporting further efforts to close the income gap between men and women, including the Paycheck Fairness Act and raising the federal minimum wage.
Source: 2013-2014 New Jersey Senate campaign web CoryBooker.com
Nov 3, 2013
Donny DiFrancesco:
Develop a workplace basic skills program
With unemployment at or below 4% for the past year, the demand for skilled labor has remained high. Continued economic growth requires that we reach out to train those whose lack of skills has caused them to be left behind. So today I am directing the
Commissioner of Labor to develop a workplace basic skills program. Let’s give all our citizens the help they need to ride the wave of prosperity. And let’s give employers the skilled workforce they need to keep our economic engine running at full speed.
Source: Address To The People of New Jersey as Acting Governor
Feb 5, 2001
Jack Ciattarelli:
Reform public employee benefits system
REFORM PUBLIC EMPLOYEE BENEFITS:
Our state's public employee benefits system is simply unsustainable. Jack Ciattarelli will usher in comprehensive reforms.
Source: 2020-21 New Jersey governor campaign website Jack4NJ.com
Apr 2, 2020
Josh Gottheimer:
Ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work
We must support families by providing new parents with Family Leave and quality, affordable childcare.
We must ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work. q
Source: 2016 New Jersey House campaign website josh4congress.com
Nov 8, 2016
Kim Guadagno:
Against minimum wage hike
Guadagno is against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because she believes "it was never intended to provide a living wage."
More, if Democrats approve it, she warns, "you're pumping your own gas." She's also against requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave, believing it would result in lost jobs.
Source: Newark Star-Ledger on 2017 New Jersey governor race
Jan 17, 2017
Phil Murphy:
Partner with private sector to expand job training
New Jersey continues to struggle with long-term unemployment. As of 2015, our state had the third highest rate of long-term unemployed in the nation--more than 41% of all unemployed individuals had been out of work for 27 weeks or more.
Last year, Phil Murphy began tackling this issue head on through the
New Start Career Network, which provides free, personalized career services to long-term unemployed individuals over the age of 45, and already it's having an impact.
As Governor, Phil will develop partnerships with the private sector to expand job training and placement for individuals who are out of work.
Source: 2017 New Jersey Gubernatorial website, Murphy4NJ.com
Sep 19, 2016
Phil Murphy:
Close the wage gap: ban unequal pay for same work by women
Women in New Jersey currently earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man performing equal work. This is unacceptable in 2016. Phil Murphy supports efforts to close the wage gap by banning unequal
pay for substantially similar work, prohibiting employers from requiring applicants to disclose their current salary, increasing wage transparency, and strengthening legal protections for victims of wage discrimination.
Source: 2017 New Jersey Gubernatorial website, Murphy4NJ.com
Sep 19, 2016
Phil Murphy:
Raise minimum wage to $15 per hour
Phil Murphy supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Raising the minimum wage would benefit nearly one million workers, equal to one-quarter of all workers in our state. New Jersey's current minimum wage is grossly inadequate.
The current minimum wage of $8.38 per hour is roughly 50 percent below a "living wage"--the amount an individual in NJ needs to meet basic needs. The argument that raising the minimum wage kills jobs is a myth that is simply not supported by evidence.
Source: 2017 New Jersey Gubernatorial website, Murphy4NJ.com
Sep 19, 2016
Phil Murphy:
Raise minimum wage to $15
Our minimum wage workers got a 25-cent per hour increase on January 1--a scant $10 more on a 40-hour work week. That's completely inadequate. A $15 dollar an hour minimum wage will give more than one million families a stronger foothold
in the middle class and allow those who aspire to enter the middle class the means to do so. The people this will help are the same people all of us rely on - maintenance workers, child-care workers and home health aides, security guards, and many more.
Source: 2019 State of the State address to New Jersey legislature
Jan 15, 2019
Phil Murphy:
Jobs NJ: align education with needs of employers, workers
Jobs NJ is how we ensure our state prospers in good times and how it overcomes tough times. Jobs NJ has a clear mission--to better align our education system to meet the future needs of both employers and workers, and do better at matching our workers
with potential employers. Jobs NJ will clear a path to ongoing job training, so residents can continue to learn and compete as the needs of employers evolve with new technologies and new economic realities.
Source: 2020 New Jersey State of the State address
Jan 14, 2020
Phil Murphy:
One way to make state more affordable is pay a livable wage
Four years ago, New Jersey's minimum wage was $8.65 an hour--a wage that locked countless hard-working New Jersey families into a cycle of poverty. Today, our minimum wage is $13 an hour and on a path to $15, with hundreds of thousands of families
now starting to reach up and pull themselves into the middle class. Here is an obvious truth some still try to deny--one meaningful way to make New Jersey more affordable is to make sure more New Jerseyans have a living wage. And we are on that path.
Source: 2022 State of the State Address to New Jersey legislature
Jan 11, 2022
Robert Menendez:
Raise minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10/hour
Q: Raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hr?Robert Hugin (R): No stand found.
Robert Menendez (D): Yes. Supported 2014 bill to raise to $10.10/hr within 2 years.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Jersey Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Seth Kaper-Dale:
Will work for $15 minimum wage
A $15 minimum wage is a necessary corrective to the current minimum wage
in order to keep up with the cost of living in New Jersey today.
Source: 2018 New Jersey Governor website KaperDaleForGovernor.com
Aug 8, 2017
Seth Kaper-Dale:
Will protect union rights to organize & collectively bargain
Collective bargaining rights will be expanded when working with a Governor who is interested in workers being respected and playing a vital part in our state's ability to move forward economically. My Administration will promote full respect for the
Wagner Act and the right to organize. Together with unions and businesses we will convert the Department of Labor and Workforce Development into an entity that protects workers rights in our state.
Source: 2018 New Jersey Governor website KaperDaleForGovernor.com
Aug 8, 2017
Steve Fulop:
Jersey City first to raise the minimum wage to $15
I've always believed that actions speak louder than words. Whether it was taking on the corrupt political machine in Jersey City or leading the first administration in New Jersey to enact paid sick leave, actions and results have mattered--much more than
just talking about getting things done.In October 2015, I was among the first elected leaders in New Jersey to advocate for an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour. And last week, after months of careful planning,
I signed an executive order making Jersey City the first city in New Jersey to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for municipal workers. Over 500 adult city employees--full- & part-time, seasonal & non-seasonal--will be impacted by this increase.
And, because we've managed our budget responsibly for the past 3 years with no tax increase, we were able to accomplish this without putting an extra burden on taxpayers. In fact, the minimum wage increase is already in 2016's tax-neutral budget.
Source: Newark Star-Ledger OpEd: 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial race
Mar 12, 2016
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023