November 13, 2008

It’s a punchy phrase but a grim one: The quarterly Sitar-Rutgers Regional Report says New Jersey is in the middle of what it calls “The Lost Employment Decade.”

Even before the current financial crisis and the restructuring of the financial services industry, which have cost the state some 5,700 jobs so far in 2008, private sector employment growth in the state had been “flatlining,” according to the report. There were 14,900 fewer private sector jobs in September than there were in December 2000.

The Rutgers report doesn’t offer much in the way of short-term hope either: “Recessionary conditions will prevail in the United States and New Jersey throughout 2009, with considerable job losses to be absorbed,” write the authors.

Americans hope their new president-elect can address the underlying conditions that can restore confidence in the economy and get businesses hiring again. In the meantime, there’s a world of hurt out there. Jewish social service organizations are reporting a surge in requests for assistance and are responding, from stocking food banks to helping the suddenly unemployed write a new resume.

These agencies, and the people they serve, need the kind of help that can only come from a broad mobilization of community resources. Institutions can tap their networks of members and donors to find and disseminate job leads. Synagogue newsletters and listservs can share these leads. Professionals can offer their expertise in helping neighbors reframe a dusty CV or explore possibilities for retraining and repackaging.

And individuals everywhere can donate funds to the agencies and institutions that will feel doubly taxed in tough economic times — such as social service agencies with swelling lists of clientele and day schools with growing numbers of scholarship requests.

It’s the Lost Employment Decade. Let’s not lose the opportunity to help.

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