In 2020, the Rowan University/Rutgers–Camden Joint Board of Governors commissioned research aimed at better understanding the workforce development barriers that both employers and job seekers face in the southern New Jersey region. The Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs, in partnership with Camden Community Partnership and the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, set out to identify barriers and opportunities to finding and securing a job, and outline challenges to connections between job seekers and employers in southern New Jersey and the city of Camden.

Through collecting and analyzing job seeker and employer perspectives, the data showed the choices residents made to advance their careers, how companies shifted and changed during the pandemic, and considerations related to economic opportunities and structural barriers. Key themes of opportunity, flexibility, and access emerged from the study data.

Seeking Work in Southern New Jersey adds to the body of evidence around the challenges and opportunities employers and job seekers in the region face. The report can be used as foundational information to inform and support additional collaboration and resources in the southern New Jersey region. Available are the full report as well as an executive summary.

Separate data stories with economic background information on southern New Jersey and the city of Camden are also available.

Members of the project team included Heldrich Center staff members Laurie Harrington, Assistant Director of Research and Evaluation; Stephanie Walsh, Research Project Manager; Kristine Joy Bacani, Research Project Assistant; and Nathan Satish, former Graduate Research Assistant.