Originally published on June 8, 2023, by Brielle Scott for NAIOP.
“Please raise your hand if your tenants have encountered any difficulties obtaining or retaining the workforce they need,” Anne Strauss-Wieder, Director, Freight Planning, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, asked the audience at NAIOP’s I.CON East: The Industrial Conference.
Almost every hand went up.
In a panel discussion on this workforce issue, Strauss-Wieder joined Glenn Best, director manufacturing and supply chain sector strategy, New Jersey Council of County Colleges; Steven Hussain, head of government and community affairs, Prologis; and Owen O’Neil, executive director, Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority; to share their perspectives and present some potential tools and solutions.
Best shared details of New Jersey’s “Pathways to Career Opportunities” program, a collaborative effort between the Community College Consortium and the New Jersey Business & Industry Association.
The $8.5 million initiative, established in 2022, supports all 18 community colleges in the state, working collaboratively to focus on four specific industry sectors: health services; infrastructure and energy; innovation and technology; and manufacturing and supply chain. These four sectors were chosen based on labor market data which showed they represented about 33% of employment opportunities in the state of New Jersey and had strong projected growth for the next decade.