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Hospital association urges advancement of bill to recruit unemployed into health-care jobs
Summary
Tina Early of the New Jersey Hospital Association told the Senate Labor Committee that New Jersey faces a shortage of roughly 40,000 health-care workers and backed Senate Bill 1381, which aims to create a program to recruit unemployed individuals into health-care, home care and hospice roles.
The Senate Labor Committee on March 2 amended and released Senate Bill 1381, a bill directing the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the Department of Health and stakeholders, to establish a program and standards to identify and recruit unemployed individuals for work in health-care facilities, home care services and hospice.
Tina Early, representing the New Jersey Hospital Association, urged the committee to advance the bill as a step to address a growing workforce shortage. Early said New Jersey currently employs about 255,000 health-care workers but should have closer to 290,000 — a shortfall of roughly 40,000 workers, or about 14 percent — and projected the state will need an additional 88,000 health-care workers by 2032 across 31 occupations.
"This legislation would help to build the workforce pipeline," Early said, adding that health-care jobs often lead to lifetime professions offering stability and advancement. She told senators that hospitals support roughly 162,000 jobs statewide and provide care to residents about 15 million times per year.
Committee members asked whether community colleges and partnerships with higher-education institutions were helping to fill the gaps. Early said many hospital members partner with universities and community colleges to provide certification and training programs.
The committee voted to amend and release S1381; members said the bill is a step toward broader workforce solutions, with additional details to be worked out as the legislation proceeds.
