New Jersey § 34:15c-7

§ 34:15c-7.

a. The State Employment and Training Commission shall select industries in which a

growing or unmet demand for skilled workers, professionals or other personnel provides

an opportunity to generate significant growth in employment or careers providing access

to self-sufficiency and shall create State-level industry task forces consisting of

key stakeholders in each selected industry to analyze the most significant mismatches

between labor supply and demand in the industry and develop Statewide strategies to

rectify those mismatches. The membership of each task force shall be selected by the commission and shall

include leaders of businesses, labor unions, professional associations and other stakeholders

in the industry and representatives from State departments and agencies which the

commission determines may be of assistance in rectifying the mismatches of supply

and demand. b. The commission shall select Workforce Investment Boards and direct them to create

regional planning bodies to address the workforce needs in the regions under the jurisdictions

of the boards of specific industries, occupations or career clusters in which a growing

or unmet demand for skilled workers, professionals or other personnel provides an

opportunity to generate significant growth in employment or careers providing self-sufficiency. The membership of each regional planning body shall include representatives of Workforce

Investment Boards and One Stop Career Center partners and leaders of businesses, labor

unions and professional associations and other stakeholders of the industries, occupations,

career clusters or employers in the region. The region under a regional planning body shall be selected by the commission to

enhance local delivery systems by providing meaningful geographic boundaries for labor

market rationalization. The region selected for one industry, occupation or career cluster may be different

from the region selected for another industry, occupation or career cluster. The size of regions under regional planning bodies may vary in accordance with the

concentration of the relevant work forces or in accordance with other factors. The commission may also determine any areas outside of the State which would benefit

from a joint effort with a regional planning body and direct the body to seek cooperation

with the Workforce Investment Board or boards outside of the State that have jurisdiction

over those areas. c. The purpose of each regional planning body shall be to develop, for its area of

jurisdiction, strategies to match labor market supply and demands and support a demand-side

focus anchoring the employment and training system to the labor market in a manner

which increases opportunities for employment and careers providing access to self-sufficiency. Those strategies may include job skill training and utilization of labor market

and demographic information to match the location of jobs with the residence of workers. The planning for the development of the strategy shall include an analysis of the

adequacy of the transportation system to get the workers to the jobs and the suitability

of the training being offered in an area for the needs of the local workplace, and

shall take into consideration any Statewide strategy developed by a Statewide industry

task force pursuant to subsection a. of this section which is relevant to the jurisdiction

of the regional planning body. d. The Legislature finds and declares that the current and growing shortage of skilled

and credentialed health care professionals, paraprofessionals, and entry-level workers

has reached crisis proportions. The commission shall establish a State-level industry taskforce on the health care

industry, as well as regional planning bodies on the health care industry in each

region designated by the commission, to address this problem and promote enduring

partnerships among employers, labor unions, professional associations and other stakeholders

in the health care industry, the public workforce investment system, primary, secondary

and postsecondary education, and social service providers to develop and sustain solutions

in the areas of recruitment, retention, training and education capacity-building in

that industry in a manner which increases opportunities for employment and careers

providing access to self-sufficiency.