Since the Murphy administration took power nine months ago, 109 new employees have been hired to staff the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development - and more hires are to come.
That is according to Labor Department Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo, the featured speaker at a breakfast roundtable Sept. 28 presented by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and NJBIA.
“The biggest challenge so far,” Asaro-Angelo said, has been how “hollowed-out” the department was when he inherited it. “Past administrations were scared to fill jobs even though 90 percent of our jobs are funded by federal dollars.”
This led to “fewer people on staff at the department, and those that remained were overburdened,” Asaro-Angelo said. “We are staffing it up.”
The result of the larger staff, he said, is faster response times when employers and employees call about issues such as employee training programs, unemployment insurance, temporary disability and family leave.
“My goal here is to create a renewed sense that your government is working for you,” the commissioner said to the business executives attending the breakfast. “We have the funding and the know-how, and we’re going to do everything we can to support employers and train employees.”