EARN in New Jersey

New Jersey Network publications

• Fast Facts: Driver’s License Expansion Would Pay for Itself and More

  • May 28, 2019
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Erika J. Nava

  Expanding access to driver’s licenses to all New Jersey residents, regardless of immigration status, would make the state’s roads safer and its economy stronger. The proposal would also pay for itself by bringing in tens of millions of dollars in recurring revenue for the state’s general fund, according to an NJPP analysis of new data […]

  Immigration

• Immigrant Small Business Ownership is a Cornerstone of New Jersey’s Economy

  • March 18, 2019
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Erika J. Nava

  On any given day and in every corner of the state, immigrants – both documented and undocumented – wake up and set out to work at small, local businesses that they themselves own and operate. This follows a nationwide trend, as immigrants are almost twice as likely to start new businesses than their native-born peers. […]

  Immigration

• A New Jersey That Works for Working People

  • November 1, 2017
  • COWS
  • Mel Meder, Satya Rhodes-Conway, Laura Dresser, and Andrew Wolf.

  New Jersey’s economy has not recovered from the recession like it could – and should – have. Economic difficulties that began with losses in manufacturing jobs throughout the 1980s have persisted. Despite a diverse population and a shift in land use from sprawling suburban growth to more infill development, job numbers and GDP are growing […]

  Education Healthcare Housing Immigration Income Infrastructure Jobs Manufacturing Wages

• Gov. Christie Guts Family Leave Bill in Conditional Veto

  • July 21, 2017
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Jon Whiten

  Today Gov. Christie gutted a landmark bill improving New Jersey’s paid family leave program (A-4927), taking out every single important policy change and leaving behind modest mandates to improve the state’s processing of paid leave claims and the public reporting about those claims. And in an ironic twist, the governor removed some of the dollars […]

  Paid Leave

• Fairly and Adequately Taxing Inherited Wealth Will Fight Inequality & Provide Essential Resources for All New Jerseyans

  • June 24, 2017
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Sheila Reynertson

  As wealth and income gaps between average New Jerseyans and the state’s wealthiest households continue to grow, policymakers must take steps to address this extreme inequality. One of the most effective ways to do so is to restore fair and adequate taxation of inherited wealth. This targeted tax policy can help close the wealth gap […]

  Taxes

• It’s Time for New Jersey to Rebalance the Economic-Development Scales

  • May 10, 2017
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Jon Whiten

  Because of legislative changes made in 2013, New Jersey’s surge in corporate tax subsidies has risen to unprecedented levels, further cramping New Jersey’s ability to invest in schools, transportation and other areas known to be greater drivers of job creation. This policy shift comes with an enormous financial reward to very few corporations and an enormous […]

  Jobs Taxes

• Increasing the EITC Will Boost New Jersey’s Workers and Their Families

  • January 18, 2017
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Jon Whiten

  Increasing New Jersey’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to 35 percent from 30 percent of the federal EITC will provide over half a million New Jersey working families with a much-needed bump in their take-home pay while giving the state’s economy a boost.

  Taxes

• High Road WIOA: Building Higher Job Quality into Workforce Development

  • December 17, 2015
  • Keystone Research Center
  • Stephen Herzenberg

  In response to the federal Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA), most states are now in the latter stages of developing federally required plans and policies for operating their systems of workforce development under WIOA. This process creates an unprecedented opportunity to build into each state’s plan concrete ideas for using state and local workforce […]

  Job Training & Apprenticeships Jobs

• New Jersey Has Modest Public Pension Benefits

  • December 14, 2014
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • Stephen Herzenberg

  While one of the central tenets of repeated calls for major changes to New Jersey’s public pension system is the claim that public employee pensions are overly generous, retirement benefits for the state’s public workers are already among the least generous of all large public-sector pensions in the country, in part because of cuts enacted […]

  Unions

• Taking Bold Action on Transportation Will Give New Jersey’s Economy a Firm Foundation for the Future

  • April 14, 2014
  • New Jersey Policy Perspective
  • David Rousseau and Gordon MacInnes

  In order for its economy to remain competitive, New Jersey needs a state-of-the-art transportation network and must be willing to make the investments this requires. With the funding needed to restore this essential but deteriorating lifeline about tapped out, policymakers must act with urgency to reverse a steady decline. After years of avoiding this problem […]

  Infrastructure Taxes