New Jersey § 34:15d-2

§ 34:15d-2.

The Legislature finds and declares that: a. New Jersey, facing an intensely competitive world economy, must choose whether

to compete against countries that have low-paid, unskilled workforces or to compete

for the high-productivity jobs that can provide a foundation for an economic leadership

position for New Jersey and high living standards for all of its citizens; b. If New Jersey is going to take the high-skill, high-productivity, high-wage path,

it will need a genuine partnership between business, labor and government to invest

in the first-rate training and education for front-line workers needed to stimulate

greater worker involvement in promoting innovation, quality control and responsiveness

to rapid technological advances in production; c. Current private sector efforts to train and educate employees in New Jersey are

extensive, involving the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars, but the overwhelming

majority of those expenditures goes to the minority of employees, usually placed in

management, scientific and technical positions, who already have college degrees; d. The inadequate emphasis on training and ongoing education for the broad majority

of front-line workers is further compounded by the fact that 90% of job training expenditures

by American businesses is spent by only one half of one percent of American businesses; e. Although current training programs for the long-term jobless and other disadvantaged

individuals have increased skilled labor resources in the State, and although federal

funding for those programs is inadequate to cover more than a small minority of those

eligible, there is an even greater need for new public resources to upgrade the skills

of vastly larger numbers of currently employed, or recently displaced, mainstream

front-line workers; f. Proposals have been made by the administrations of both Governor Kean and Governor

Florio to redirect existing payroll taxes to fund a broader and more in-depth program

of worker training and access to lifelong education, a method successfully employed

by other States and by leading international industrial competitors, such as Germany,

Japan and France; g. The potential contribution of business-labor cooperation to create a highly productive

workforce has also been demonstrated, domestically and overseas, by the effectiveness

of apprenticeship programs in certain skilled trades; h. It is therefore an appropriate public purpose to sustain the current level of support

of training programs for disadvantaged individuals and to establish, with the active

participation of New Jersey's business and labor communities, a broader program of

expanded, high-quality training and education, including needed basic skills education,

for currently employed and recently displaced front-line workers, funded by the redirection

of a portion of existing payroll taxes.