43:21-57. Findings, declarations

1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:

a. During the 1980s, New Jersey employers reported serious difficulties in finding skilled workers for a wide range of jobs in key sectors of the State's economy, and, notwithstanding the current economic slowdown, a longterm shortage of skilled labor will continue in many parts of the State's economy during the 1990s and beyond;

b. In addition, many New Jersey businesses are also hindered by low levels of literacy and other basic skills among a significant minority of the workforce;

c. Basic workplace literacy and vocational skill levels must be raised if the industries and enterprises of this State are to be successful in an increasingly competitive global economy;

d. Because of a slowing rate of population growth, the retraining of the existing workforce will play a critical role in meeting the growing need for skilled labor;

e. The effectiveness of current programs to retrain displaced workers during the time that they receive unemployment benefits is hindered by the limited duration of those benefits, which often drives displaced workers into short-term retraining programs with limited skill enhancement or results in the programs' avoiding the selection of trainees who need more extensive training to succeed;

f. It would increase the effectiveness of programs which provide retraining to displaced workers if the unemployment benefit period could be extended in cases where the longer benefit period is necessary to provide needed in-depth education and training;

g. Such extended unemployment benefits in connection with job training and education would encourage displaced workers to make greater use of retraining opportunities, thus making productive use of periods of economic slowdown and helping to close the skilled labor shortage during the growth periods that follow;

h. New Jersey's Unemployment Compensation Fund, with its current balance of more than two billion dollars, is among the most solvent in the nation;

i. It is therefore an appropriate public purpose, beneficial to workers and employers and the longterm economic development of New Jersey, to use a limited amount of unemployment compensation funds to provide extended unemployment benefits as needed to enable displaced workers to obtain the high quality training and education required for success in occupations where there are demonstrated longterm shortages of skilled labor.

L.1992,c.47,s.1.