A robust understanding of our local economy enables the Greater Raritan Workforce Development Board to align workforce and economic development initiatives while generating policy based on the needs of local employers as well as the intelligence gathered from our system partners.

To help inform and provide data for decision making, The GRWDB staff compiles and reviews custom data reports from our state partners, and reviews analysis of trends in employment, human resources management, and workforce delivery efforts in general.

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development Labor Market Information

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Office of Research and Information provides a host of regularly updated labor market information data sets to the Greater Raritan Workforce Development Board on a quarterly basis. The area’s labor market analyst also is available to help the GRWDB staff with market-specific requests initiated by different parties, including businesses, schools and individuals.

After a surge in unemployment filings in the spring of 2020, numbers have steadily declined, and the unemployment rate in Hunterdon and Somerset counties is hovering around or just above pre-pandemic levels – currently 3.4 percent in Hunterdon County and 3.9 percent in Somerset County. (To view the latest unemployment rates by county, go here and click on the Monthly Data tab.) GRWDB staff, working with state partners, continue to share the latest information with board and committee members, governmental officials and local businesses, to support present and future decision-making around resources and employment needs.

The Greater Raritan Unemployment Tracker provides directional data about trends and statistics.

INTERACTIVE DATABASES

To support this direction, the GRWDB has maintained the Greater Raritan Unemployment Tracker for Hunterdon and Somerset counties. The site was developed by Somerset County Office of GIS Services (SCOGIS) using data compiled by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s LMI Bureau within the Office of Research and Information. The data used for this site comes from self-reported unemployment claims and not all claimants fill out all available fields.

But the tracker, which is updated monthly with new unemployment claims, helps create a picture of which sectors have been impacted most heavily since the pandemic began, and provides directional guidance for programs from the board and its partners. The GRWDB also has detailed characteristics of the newly unemployed which provide further details on who is being impacted and which industries may need additional support.

A complementary resource from Focus NJ is an Economic Tracking Dashboard, designed to provide easy access to key economic information for policymakers, stakeholders, and all other interested parties. The dashboard, found at focusnj.org/economic-tracker, compares current and historical economic data through interactive maps, charts and tables and is updated as data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other agencies arrives.

The GRWDB’s employer-transportation interactive mapping application is designed as a tool for job seekers.

The Somerset County Office of GIS, which built and maintains the Unemployment Tracker, has created a second searchable map application focusing on the top 25 employers in Hunterdon and Somerset Counties with the most job postings in a quarterly period.

The application maps those employers’ locations with public transit networking including Somerset and NJ Transit bus routes as well as NJ Transit rail lines and stations. Each pin on the map represents the top 25 employers in the two counties, and each pin includes that employer’s website and Google street view . Users can navigate through the platform, searching by Resources (links to the National Labor Exchange jobs site, Ridewise and goHunterdon); Employer List; Employers Near Me with transit information; and Directions to map routes.

DEMAND OCCUPATIONS

Among the resources developed by the Office of Research and Information is the Labor Demands Occupation List, which can be viewed here on careerservices.nj.gov. This list, effective July 1, 2022, aggregates several factors to reach its conclusions, including the occupation’s total employment, its short-term historical growth, and whether it has a strong projected growth rate. This list is used in different ways to support many programs, including approval for training courses for those in the One-Stop system. Related information on in-demand  occupations is available on Training Explorer (https://training.njcareers.org). Click on the In-Demand Occupations tab on the home page or explore the Training Seekers Learn More button which takes users to a variety of resources, including a View Occupations tab.

While the labor demand occupation list is based on a comprehensive analysis of supply and demand factors on a statewide basis, state officials recognize that local labor market conditions may differ from those determined for the state. Local Workforce Development Boards can request that additional occupations be added to the labor demand list for their area if they demonstrate that there is a “significant excess of demand over supply for adequately trained workers” in the surrounding labor market area. More information on this process can be found on the state Department of Labor website.

LOCAL LABOR ANALYSIS

Businesses are hiring and employability, or soft skills, remain important to employers in Hunterdon and Somerset counties. This is reflected in the recent quarterly reports created for the GRWDB by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development:

These state reports use LIghtcast data to provide near real-time data about job postings in the area and around the state.

The data also can be used to present economic overviews. Here’s are reports from 2023 and 2022:

Census information can be combined with other data sets to produce an array of reports. Following are recent reports produced to reflect labor demographic information in Hunterdon and Somerset counties:

In addition, these reports can be compared to the following sets produced by the state prior to the coronavirus pandemic:

For more NJDOL labor market information, visit the Labor Market Information website and explore key industry reports, employment and wage outcomes, local employment dynamics and a suite of other research resources,  including a Publications and Reports page.

Of particular interest are nine New Jersey key Industry Sectors reports. Industry sectors are the engines that drive job expansion and attract new businesses in New Jersey. This nine reports of New Jersey’s industry sectors are provided in a more accessible and usable format to help keep New Jersey’s industry sectors in focus. The sectors are: Health Care; Life Sciences; Transportation, Distribution and Logistics; Retail; Leisure and Hospitality; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Technology; and Construction – Utilities.

The NJDOL site also offers a County Briefs link, which provides county-specific labor market facts such as employment, largest industry, population totals, educational attainment, building permit data, and per capita personal income.

OTHER DATA TOOLS

An interesting tool at the federal level is the Career Trajectories and Occupational Transitions Dashboard. This interactive tool allows  users to explore “mid-level” occupations – that the require education or experience beyond a high school diploma or equivalent but less than a four-year degree – and understand what impacts wage growth in these clusters. The dashboard starts with step-by-step instructions.

A rich source of information related to people with disabilities is the home page of the Virtual Release of the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium. This four-day conference focused on a number of topics, including: Release of the Annual Report and Compendium; Federal Data Collection and Adjusting to COVID Environment; Impact of COVID-19 for People with Disabilities; and Disability and African Americans. Materials and reports can be downloaded, and recordings of the sessions are available. For more information, visit https://disabilitycompendium.org/.

For U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts about Hunterdon and Somerset counties, go here.

For further Hunterdon County information, go here. For further Somerset County information, go here.

The United Way of Northern New Jersey works to build a strong community — where workers earn enough to meet their needs, can build a personal safety net to weather a crisis, and have access to quality care for vulnerable family members. This includes striving for racial and financial equity for individuals and families in poverty and those living paycheck to paycheck, known as ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The ALICE effort is built upon the foundation of data; learn more and explore ALICES resources here.

This Future of Work in NJ Industry Series report from Focus NJ and NJBIA also provided some detailed analysis on business trends.

Annual Reports

To creatively document the activities and performance of the Board and Career Centers throughout the program year, The GRWDB has made available our most recent Annual Reports: