Aaron Fichtner, Ph.D
. Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Ashley Conway , Senior Policy Analyst, State Employment and
Training Commission
Sandy Lopacki , Coordinator, New Jersey Healthcare Talent
Network at Rutgers University

2
• Grounded in an understanding of the workforce needs of industries
• Connected to other workforce and education intermediaries
• Connected to economic development efforts, when appropriate
• Focused on using data to inform program and policy decisions

Implement
Programs
Understand
Talent
Needs
Develop Strategy

Implement
Programs
Industry Focused Labor
Market Intelligence
Understand
Talent
Needs
Develop Strategy

Labor Market Information as a Tool to Inform Talent
Development Strategies
Industry /
Occupation
Data
Employer
Feedback
Transaction
Indicators
Education /
Training Data

• There are roughly 21,300 establishments employing about
421,000 people of all ages, genders, races, and educational backgrounds in New Jersey in 2010
• From 1990 through 2010, the health care sector has added
164,700 new jobs, while all other private sector employment has had a net decline of 11,100 jobs
• Health care is the only industry that has added jobs in the state every year from 1990 through 2010 while increasing its share of jobholding from 7.5 percent in 1990 to 11.3 percent in 2010

The health care industry has been the driving force of employment in New Jersey over the last two decades
(1990=100)
From 1990 through 2010, the health care sector has added 164,700 new jobs, while all other industries combined have had a net gain of only 54,700
Employment in Ambulatory Health Care
Services and Nursing and Residential Care
Facilities has nearly doubled over the last 20 years
Slow, and recently stagnant, growth in
Hospital employment has led to it being the laggard among Health Care’s three major components
Source: Current Employment Statistics

With employment surpassing 420,000, the health care sector accounts for over 11% of all employment in the state in 2010, up from 7.5% in 1990
Ambulatory Health Care Services surpassed
Hospitals as the top employer in the Health
Care sector in 2003, and has widened the gap every subsequent year
Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, the smallest component, has grown more than three times the rate (3.1%) of Hospitals (1.0%) since 1990
Together, the three Health Care components have grown by 2.4% annually since 1990, compared to only 0.3% for total nonfarm employment and a job decline for all private sector excluding health care
Source: Current Employment Statistics

60,925
Health Care
Employment in
Bergen County

The health care sector offers opportunities for employment for all levels of education and experience…
Source: Occupational Employment Statistics Survey

Employment status and personal earnings of individuals in the health care industry
Source: American Community Survey

Gender, racial, and ethnic profile of New Jersey’s health care work force
Females outnumber males by a 3 to 1 margin in the health care workforce
The workforce is far more diverse than average, particularly among the black and
Asian population
The workforce has just slightly fewer
Hispanics than average
Source: American Community Survey

From 2003 to 2009, the total number of degrees and certificates awarded has increased by 82%
Source: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

The health care industry has steadily gained employment over the last 20 years and will continue that trend through
2018
Employment is still growing, but getting slower
• Grew by 3% per year during 1990s
• Grew by 2% per year during 2000s
• Projected to grow by 1.3% from 2008-
2018
There will still be many opportunities for employment as the industry struggles to increase workforce for growing demand while also replacing workers who will retire
The health care cluster is projected to add over 56,000 jobs, and account for more than 45% of net job growth from 2008-
2018
Source: Current Employment Statistics
New Jersey Industry and Occupational Projections

Implement
Programs
Industry Focused Labor
Market Intelligence
Understand
Talent Needs
Develop Strategy
Health Care Workforce
Council

The outlook is bright, but…
The outlook for health care employment is bright. From 2008 through 2018, it is projected that more than 56,000 jobs will be added, an annual increase of 1.3 percent
- NJ Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development
Projected significant growth and critical shortages
Fewer jobs available and unemployment in some health care occupations
Expanding ambulatory and home care Constricting acute care provided in institutions

What health care jobs will be in demand?
• Trends
• Employer needs

Trends that impact the health care workforce:
Models
National Health Care
Reform and fundamental changes in how health care is delivered
Moving from hospital-based care to community-based care
Pipelines
Aging population with greater health care needs
Economics
Severe economic downturn
Current health Care workforce at or nearing retirement
Rising costs and high utilization
New health care technologies and knowledge
Unemployment of licensed professionals and predicted critical shortages
Changes in reimbursement
(who, what and where) and financial incentives
Potential health care coverage of 450,000 more NJ residents in 2014

New Jersey Health Care Workforce Council
Employers Education
Workforce
The Health Care Workforce Council mission is to strengthen New Jersey’s health care workforce to support a sustainable, quality health care system for the good of the State and all of its residents.
The Council makes recommendations to the State Employment and Training
Commission to ensure quality workforce investments to meet the needs of health care employers for a highly-trained and diverse workforce, which will benefit individuals who are starting or advancing in health care careers.

Health care workforce issues being addressed by the Council:
Data
The need for shared, coordinated state health care workforce data that is meaningful and accessible.
Models
Need for greater collaborative learning linking fields/disciplines and transcending the isolation of silos.
How will changes in health care delivery change the health care workforce?
Pipelines
What is the current health care occupation demand and supply? What will be needed in the future?
Pathways
Clarify health care career pathways and improve career entry and up skilling.
Greater alignment of training and education with current and future workplace needs.

New Jersey Health Care Talent Network
To leverage workforce development resources to their fullest through coordinated communication, greater sector understanding, and the encouragement of innovation.
Coordinate Sector Resource Innovate
• Conduct outreach
• Cultivate relationships
• Link likely partners
• Facilitate communication between stakeholders
• Provide sector intelligence
• Qualitative data collection
(employer needs)
• Identify and help mitigate barriers to workforce development
• Support partners’ initiatives
• Collect and seed best practices
• Initiate “short term fix” solutions and improvements to the health care workforce system

Speak with employers
Systematically, regularly, often
In forums where HR executives already go
NJHA, Primary care association, Home care, ambulatory groups

• New, “work in progress”
• Collaborative
• Data-driven
• Innovative
• Pilot and share best practices

• Exploring ways to train coders for high demand IP positions
• Developing models for veterans to transfer training to credit in health care ed programs
• Planning summits with employers and university
Careers Offices
• Testing concept of virtual job fairs