Wander down any New Jersey street and you will likely find a “help wanted” sign in the windows of stores and restaurants. The worker shortage continues, with new numbers on Tuesday showing that job openings in the U.S. increased to a record high in March — 11.5 million vacancies. The number of people quitting their jobs in March increased to over 4.5 million, also a record. Marjorie Perry, CEO of Newark-based MZM Construction and Management, says it’s a struggle to find workers for projects.
A groundbreaking was held on Tuesday in Carteret for a new cloud infrastructure and data center for the stock exchange operator Nasdaq. Local officials spoke about how the project will create new union jobs. Nasdaq also has a few other back-office locations in New Jersey and has had a presence for a few years in Carteret.
New Jersey is home to a growing number of financial technology companies, and the state is looking to further advance the fintech industry. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is seeking input for the creation of a Fintech Innovation Center to gauge whether a center would help create new jobs and boost the economy. It will be gathering data on that over the next month.
Ahead of the official start of the bag ban in New Jersey, one retail chain is getting the word out that it’s handing out free reusable bags. Wawa says it will distribute 1,000 bags at each of its 272 stores in the state.
