See Who's Hiring: Greater Raritan Workforce Development - Update for May 2025

We’re about a month away from the 2025 Greater Raritan Job Fair being conducted on May 29 at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Society in Bridgewater. The flyer (attached) for job seekers was released today; please share this within your network and beyond. The flyer includes an optional registration link (which will be active by COB today) as well as a link to information on an in-person workshop, How to Thrive During Transition and Change, being presented by Jan Goodman, a Greater Raritan One-Stop Career Training Center team member. and a regular workshop presenter in our area. We have about 50 employers right now, so please keep sharing the employer registration link out, too. Find more in the calendar entry.

Check out the GRWDB calendar. You’ll see that next week is a busy one in our area. Events include a Recruitment Event for The StarThrower Group on Wednesday, May 7, an information session for the OPG Manufacturing Program on May 7, a Hackensack Meridan Carrier Clinic Hiring Event on May 8, and the Somerset County Aging and Disability Resource Expo on Saturday, May 10.In addition, on May 14, there will be a NJ Department of Corrections Career Fair in Somerville on Wednesday, May 14. All these events are in a mobile platform. Text onestop to 908-460-8144 to get your weekly link.

I am pleased to report that TANF Innovations Initiative grant has received a no-cost extension through December 31, 2025, from the NJDOL. Through March, we have expended $97,010.00 of the $440,000.00 award (originally ending June 30, 2025) and we have seen increasing success and expenditure rates. More than 40 individuals have been assisted with a range of services, including transportation, childcare, car repairs and license restoration and Chromebook loans. We also have had our first group of individuals receive gift card stipends for retaining employment for 90 days or more. Our partners, led by Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission and assisted by Somerset County Department of Transportation and Creative Marketing Alliance, have worked hard to make this program successful. The state team overseeing this initiative told me the extension is their endorsement of what we are doing.

A new podcast series, "Work Trends RU," is being launched by the Heldrich Center. The series is exploring the changing worlds of work, education, social policy, and financial security through conversations with policymakers, experts, educators, and business, labor, and community leaders. Topics include the contemporary workforce, economic challenges, artificial intelligence and the future of work, and how public policies and private initiatives are responding to the needs of job seekers, workers, and employers. The series, premiering on Tuesday, May 6 with a conversation with Governor Phil Murphy, is hosted by Dr. Carl Van Horn and other scholars from the Heldrich Center. Watch a promotional video trailer for more.

Surveys of nearly 3,000 rising and recent college graduates conducted by ZipRecruiter found that graduates’ expectations are colliding with reality, in terms of time and money. Although 82% of rising grads said they expected to begin working within three months of graduation, only 77% of recent grads were able to accomplish that. Business and finance-related majors were most likely to have found a job either before or within three months of graduation. Forty-two percent reported that they did not get the pay they wanted – many are hoping for six figures but are seeing an average starting salary of $68,400. Graduates are also looking for flexibility, but only 29% found jobs with flexible schedules and work arrangements.

Also of note:

• Work Wise Labs, a New Jersey-based company focusing on leadership development and workplace culture, is launching a free virtual workshop series in May to provide employees with essential professional skills in 15 minutes.
• The latest NJDOL report, A Safer Tomorrow, shows how the department is helping make the state a safer place to work and do business.
• JobSIDE, in development from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, is designed to help employers produce skill profiles for in-demand jobs and to align education, training and credentialing programs to those needs.
• Teen Speak is a free workshop for parents and caregivers of teens provided by Empower Somerset. The flyer is attached. Contact Vanessa DeRosa, vanessa@empowersomerset.com or phone at 908-488-0899, to schedule a workshop.
• The future workforce is being threatened by a declining birth rate, said panelists at a virtual Global Population Decline and American Immigration Policy event hosted by the NJ Business Immigration Coalition in partnership with NJBIA.
• The unemployment rate stayed at 4.2 percent and 177,000 jobs were added last month, according to today’s economic report.

I will be in Virginia Beach from May 4-7 for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals annual conference. I hope to share and come back with good ideas. Have a great weekend.

Paul

Paul Grzella | Director

The Greater Raritan Workforce Development Board