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President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate pact

Trump

June 1,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate pact. In a decision that spurns pleas from corporate executives who stood to gain , world leaders who would access US tax payer funds and even Pope Francis who warned the move imperils a global fight against climate change proving “Climate Change ” is religion not science .

 

“The Obama-negotiated accord imposes unrealistic targets on the U.S. for reducing our carbon emissions, while giving countries like China a free pass for years to come,” the White House said.

President Trump once again defended US Taxpayers who would fund the so called “Paris Accord” , pointing out the the many instances where the accord sought to redistribute and strip America’s wealth and industry to the rest of the world and imperil
the US economy.
The President also went to great lengths pointing out how the “Paris Accord”  would reduce America’s sovereignty giving outsiders control of US domestic agenda .
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President Trump’s Taxpayer First Budget

Trump thumbs up
May 23,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, President Trump’s first proposed budget shows respect for the people who pay the bills. The administration’s “Calvin Coolidge style” proposal reverses the damaging trends from previous administrations by putting our nation’s budget back into balance and reducing our debt through fiscally conservative principles, all the while delivering on President Trump’s campaign promise not to cut Social Security retirement or Medicare. The budget’s combination of regulatory, tax, and welfare reforms will provide opportunities for economic growth and creation.

Trump Budget Facts:

President Trump’s budget is designed to put the taxpayer first, create jobs, and build economic growth.

President Trump’s budget finally balances the Federal budget and turns the deficit into a $16 billion surplus by 2027.

President Trump’s budget makes national defense a top priority by increasing defense spending by $54 billion.

President Trump’s budget increases funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $4.3 billion.

President Trump’s budget puts Americans’ safety first by providing $2.6 billion in increased funding for border security.

President Trump’s budget balances the budget and makes no cuts to either Medicare or Social Security retirement.

President Trump’s budget provides national paid family leave for the first time in the history of this country.

President Trump’s budget helps American families by implementing the first national paid family leave initiative.

President Trump’s budget saves the American people billions of dollars through welfare and regulatory reform.

President Trump’s budget sees a decline in debt as a percentage of GDP every year in the budget window.

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MAKING MANUFACTURING A MATTER OF PUBLIC POLICY FOR NEW JERSEY

Paterson Falls

JOHN REITMEYER | MAY 8, 2017

A new ‘manufacturing caucus’ looks to explore what companies need in terms of employees, education, training, and business opportunities — and help make sure they get it

Although not as dominant an industry as it was several decades ago, manufacturing is still a major part of the New Jersey economy, and a sector where a majority of employers have indicated they’re still looking to hire.

To help foster what could be a manufacturing renaissance in New Jersey — a state with a rich industrial history that dates to colonial days — state lawmakers are launching a new “manufacturing caucus” that will focus specifically on figuring out ways to craft policies that lead to increased productivity and growth for manufacturing.

The formation of the new caucus, which will involve lawmakers from both the Assembly and Senate, and from both political parties, was announced last week by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester). The panel will hold a series of hearings this summer to help inform a legislative agenda that will be pursued in the fall as lawmakers return to the State House following this year’s legislative elections. The effort will be led by state Sen. Robert Gordon, whose own background includes working in his family’s yarn mill in Paterson.

“I think (manufacturing) is critically important to the state,” said Gordon (D-Bergen) in an interview with NJ Spotlight. “Manufacturing is still a very important component of our economy.”

 

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/05/07/making-manufacturing-a-matter-of-policy-for-new-jersey/

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Good news for college grads in NJ … who have THESE degrees

grads

By David Matthau May 8, 2017 2:38 AM

The sun is shining the birds are chirping and the class of 2017 is about to graduate, which means going out and looking for a job.

According to Kim Barberich, executive director of the Rider University Career Development & Success Department, this year’s job outlook for new graduates is looking better than last year.

“The landscape looks like there’s going to be, for 2017, about a 6 percent increase in hiring, I think that’s really exciting,” she said.

Dora Onyschak, the New Jersey metro market manager and vice president at Robert Half, a staffing and employment agency, said 74 percent of employers are hiring new grads this year.

The top degrees that employers are looking for are business, engineering and communication technologies.

Barberich adds that “healthcare is also a really strong domain right now, especially because New Jersey has so many pharmaceutical companies.”

Read More: Good news for college grads in NJ … who have THESE degrees | https://nj1015.com/good-news-for-college-grads-in-nj-who-have-these-degrees/?trackback=tsmclip

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The number of reluctant part-time workers is still higher than before the Great Recession

pastor+stripper+pole

Published: Apr 9, 2017 12:57 p.m. ET

Millions of Americans don’t want to work part-time.

The U.S. economy added just 98,000 jobs in March, the smallest gain in nearly a year, after adding more than 200,000 jobs in January and February. Economists predicted that the number of jobs created in March would hit 180,000, so the actual figures fell far short of that. Unemployment fell to a 10-year-low of 4.5% in March from 4.7% in February, but the “real” unemployment rate that includes part-time workers who would rather work full-time and job hunters who gave up searching for work was 8.9%, although this was also down from 9.2% in February.

Part-time work is still a contentious alternative for many workers. On Thursday, Amazon said it will create 30,000 part-time jobs in the U.S. over the next year, nearly double the current number. Of those, 25,000 will be in warehouses and 5,000 will be home-based customer service positions. Amazon AMZN, -0.38%  said in January it would create 100,000 full-time jobs over the next 18 months, according to a separate announcement made in January. Last year, Amazon’s world-wide workforce grew by 48% to 341,400 employees. In the U.S., it has over 70 “fulfillment centers” and 90,000 full-time employees. (Amazon did not respond to request for comment.)

There were some 5.6 million involuntary part-time workers in March 2017, little changed from the month before, but down from 6.4 million a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number is up from 4.5 million in November 2007, but way off a peak of 8.6 million in September 2012. These figures are almost entirely due to the inability of workers to find full-time jobs, leaving many workers to take or keep lower-paying jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think-tank in Washington, D.C. And 54% of the growth in these involuntary part-time jobs between 2007 and 2015 were in retail, leisure and hospitality industries, the EPI said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-will-create-30000-part-time-jobs-but-american-workers-are-desperate-to-work-full-time-2017-04-06

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N.J. experiences largest private sector job growth in 16 years

Chris_Christie_Governor_of_New_Jersey

“We’re actually now over-performing the rest of the country, and I would suggest to you that the reason that there is that lag is because New Jersey is still a very expensive place to work and do business, and if the legislature had been willing to do other tax cuts and other measures that I put and recommended on property taxes and income taxes, perhaps we’d be in even better shape and it would’ve happened even faster. But, we’re certainly better off than we were from 2001 to 2009, when there was zero net private-sector job growth during a time” Governor Chris Christie

 

By KATHERINE LANDERGAN

03/13/17 03:08 PM EDT

Gov. Chris Christie on Monday heralded the state’s fiscal health as new figures showed New Jersey last year experienced the largest spike in private sector job growth since 2000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the state gained 60,800 private sector jobs last year, meaning New Jersey recovered all of the jobs it lost during the recession, and then added another 65,000 jobs.

“This didn’t happen by accident,” Christie, a Republican, said at a press conference in Englewood Cliffs. “The tax cuts we put in place, holding the line on other taxes, the 2 percent property tax cap — all of these things are bearing fruit.”

Christie also said the state has shown strong gains in construction, the tourism industry, and the number of new businesses filings, and has seen a decline in foreclosures.

“It’s great news for the state and we should stop the drumbeat that somehow New Jersey is underperforming from a jobs perspective,” he said.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2017/03/nj-experiences-largest-private-sector-growth-in-16-years-110315

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Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno Celebrates Tourism Successes and Improved Revenues

artchick_jerseyshore_theridgewoodblog

photo by ArtChick

March 10,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton, NJ ,Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno today attended the New Jersey Conference on Tourism to discuss the New Jersey Tourism Industry’s diverse attractions for all seasons and the improvements the industry has made over the last year.

New Jersey again set a record in 2016, with the tourism industry accounting for $44.1 billion in economic impact – an increase of more than 2.9 percent over the previous year. This was in part due to an increase in visitation to New Jersey, which increased for the seventh straight year. The number of visitors to New Jersey increased by 3.3 percent last year to 98 million.

“Over the last seven years, as the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, I’ve traveled hundreds of thousands of miles across this great State seeing the amazing and diverse attractions we have to offer,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “So, it’s no surprise that the Travel and Tourism Industry had another year of increased growth across all seasons.”

In 2016, the tourism industry directly supported more than 321,231 jobs. When factoring in indirect impacts, more than a half million jobs – or nearly one in 10 of all New Jersey jobs – depended on tourism. The New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism recently released promising numbers from the past year. In 2016, tourism in New Jersey generated $4.9 billion in state and local tax revenues. Without the tourism industry, New Jersey households would each need to pay $1,525 in order to maintain the current level of state and local government services.

To learn more about New Jersey Tourism, visit www.visitnj.org.

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Trump Jump Hits US private Sector Creating 298K jobs in February

Pence and  Trump

March 8,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Trump jump continues with companies adding more jobs than expected in February. There was also a notable shift away from the service-sector positions that have dominated hiring for years.

President Trump had tweeted on Monday, “There is an incredible spirit of optimism sweeping the country right now—we’re bringing back the JOBS!”

ADP and Moody’s Analytics reported today that the private sector surged by 298,000 for the month, with goods producers adding 106,000, Construction jobs jumping 66,000 and manufacturing added 32,000.

The 298,000 total shattered market expectations of 190,000, according to economists surveyed by ADP.

Trump tweeted this morning, “LinkedIn Workforce Report: January and February were the strongest consecutive months for hiring since August and September 2015”

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‘U.S. News & World Report’ Best States Ranking; New Jersey Ranks a Respectable 14th

Sopranos

March 3,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in a recent ‘U.S. News & World Report’ Best States Ranking, New Jersey ranks 14th.New Jersey beat out New York, Florida, California, Hawaii and Pennsylvania in the overall rankings.

According to the study, the Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, the opportunity it offers people, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety and the integrity and health of state government.

What’s amazing is the rankings not only consider such categories as health care(pricey in NJ ), education (forgetaboutit ) but  the “state’s economy(ugh), the opportunity it offers people (live with mom), its roads, bridges (total disaster), internet and other infrastructure (public rest rooms), its public safety (cops everywhere) and the integrity and health of state government( your kidding right).”

The Top 10 states in the overall rankings include (in order):

1.    Massachusetts
2.    New Hampshire
3.    Minnesota
4.    North Dakota
5.    Washington
6.    Iowa
7.    Utah
8.    Maryland
9.    Colorado
10.   Vermont

The Rankings noted the state’s “world-class universities, leading technology and biological science firms and one fast turnpike,” out of 50 states, the report lists New Jersey 2nd in education, 8th in health care, and 27th in opportunity.

In other categories, you guessed it New Jersey comes in dead last in the category of government, which takes into consideration such things as “Fiscal Stability” (ranked 49th in the country), “Budget Transparency” (29th), and “State Integrity” (18th) Scary New Jersey placed 18th.

The good news in the rankings, New Jersey leads the rest of U.S. states with a zero-percent over-capacity of its State Prison System. New Jersey comes in 2nd place for “Public Transit Usage,” and its low property crime rate ranked 3rd out of all 50 states.

Meanwhile, New Jersey ranked well in overall household income (4th), low suicide rate (2nd), fewest nursing home citations (4th), and pre-school enrollment (1st).

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New Jersey Home Sales Surged in January

ridgewood real-estate

By Josh Barbanel Published March 01, 2017 Economic Indicators Dow Jones Newswires

Home sales in New Jersey surged in January, continuing a trend of strengthening sales as the employment picture continues to improve.

Sales of new and existing homes in January increased 14% compared with the same month in 2016, and rose 31% from 2015, according a market report by Jeffrey Otteau, president of the Otteau Group, an appraisal and consulting firm.

“Looking ahead, expectations for deregulation and tax cuts are likely to further boost sales, particularly for luxury homes, which have lagged since the start of the last recession,” Mr. Otteau said in an email.

The report showed that the pace of sales increased for the 29th consecutive month, with activity in January the highest for the month since 2005.

At the same time, the inventory of unsold homes fell to the lowest January level since 2005. Most of the state’s 21 counties had a normal balance between supply and demand, the report said.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/01/new-jersey-home-sales-surged-in-january.html

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President Trump: Putting Coal Country Back to Work

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LETTING COAL COUNTRY WORK AGAIN
February 17,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, On Thursday , President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 38) to stop the costly “Stream Protection Rule” from further harming coal workers and the communities that depend on them.

H.J. Res. 38 blocks an overly burdensome regulation from harming the coal industry.

The regulation was expected to reduce coal production, leading to fewer coal jobs across the country.
The blocked regulation threatened the coal industry with millions of dollars in compliance costs.
Complying with the regulation would have put an unsustainable financial burden on small mines, most of which are in the Appalachian Basin.

The blocked regulation would have duplicated existing regulations already in place to protect Americans.

GIVING COAL COUNTRY RELIEF: Since 2009, the coal industry has declined, leaving workers and communities without a lifeline.

Since January 2009, the coal mining industry has lost over 36,000 jobs without any relief in sight.
From 2009 to 2015, coal production declined by over 177,000,000 tons across the country.
From 2009 to 2015, over 600 coal mines closed.

A PROMISE TO COAL WORKERS: Before President Trump’s inauguration, he promised coal workers he would support them and reverse the harmful actions of the past administration.

November 21, 2016, the Trump-Pence Transition Team pledged to “end the war on coal” and review harmful regulations created under the Obama Administration.
September 22, 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump called out harmful coal regulations: “I will rescind the coal mining lease moratorium, the excessive Interior Department stream rule, and conduct a top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama Administration.”
August 8, 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump pledged to the American people: “We will put our coal miners and steel workers back to work.”

GETTING GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on all Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.

President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
President Trump has placed a moratorium on all new regulations by executive departments and agencies that are not compelled by Congress or public safety.
President Trump directed the Commerce Department to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturing and to reduce regulatory burdens on domestic manufacturers.
President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
President Trump signed legislation to eliminate a costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.
President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to ensure associated, burdensome regulations receive proper scrutiny.
President Trump ordered re-examination of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.

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President Trump: Continues his Crusade of Cutting Red Tape for American Businesses

Trump Signs 3 Sweeping Executive Orders
February 15,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump signed legislation (House Joint Resolution 41) eliminating a costly regulation that threatened to put domestic extraction companies and their employees at an unfair disadvantage.

This creates a level playing field with companies like BP who were formed solely for the purpose of bribing, ie political contributions, PILOT, jobs, taxes and so on foreign governments to exploit the natural resources.
Critics of the Gulf Oil spill have long claimed BP bribed its way out of trouble in the gulf with a huge payment to the Obama Administration.

H.J. Res. 41 blocks a misguided regulation from burdening American extraction (oil )companies.

By halting this regulation, the President has removed a costly impediment to American extraction companies helping their workers succeed. This legislation could save American businesses as much as $600 million annually in regulatory compliance costs and spare them 200,000 hours of paperwork. The regulation created an unfair advantage for foreign-owned extraction companies.

BUILDING ON PRESIDENTIAL ACTION: President Trump has been steadfast in his commitment to reducing the regulatory burden on everyday Americans, their pocketbooks, and their businesses.

President Trump has required that for every new Federal regulation, two existing regulations be eliminated.
President Trump will initiate fundamental changes to the United States healthcare system to reduce the financial burden on Americans by getting the government out of the way.
President Trump has placed a moratorium on all new regulations by executive departments and agencies that are not compelled by Congress or public safety.
President Trump directed his Secretary of Commerce to streamline Federal permitting processes for domestic manufacturing and to reduce regulatory burdens on domestic manufacturers.
President Trump signed an Executive Order expediting the environmental review and approval processes for domestic infrastructure projects.
President Trump directed the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a full review of Dodd-Frank to ensure associated, burdensome regulations receive proper scrutiny.
President Trump ordered re-examination of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, to make certain that it does not harm Americans as they save for retirement.

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Stuck on Stupid :Trenton Drops All Governing Responsibilities to Focus on Trump

14405_trenton_new_jersey_s_state_house_capitol_in_trenton

February 15,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, public frustration continues to grow towards the New Jersey Assembly spending so much time and energy attacking President Trump instead of focusing on any of New Jerseys myriad of serious problems.

Trenton is ignoring everything from property tax relief, school funding, pension payments and reform, the list is endless. New Jersey ranks the number one state to move out of, and ranks near the bottom in almost every economic category, but instead of working on the difficult issues the state faces , Trenton Democrats and some Republicans assisted by the New Jersey media are engaging   non-stop Trump bashing.

 Assembly, New Jersey, 39th, Republican Holly Schepisi summed it up best ,”Tomorrow we have a “special” voting session in Trenton to vote on such pressing NJ matters as providing guidance to our municipalities on affordable housing, fixing the Pension crisis, reforming the school funding formula…..just kidding! Instead of fixing any of NJ’s major issues, we are voting on at least seven political resolutions targeting our President.”

Schepisi went on to call out her ccolleagues, ” Over the past several days several of my colleagues in the State Legislature have indicated they would try to move forward legislation protecting “Sanctuary Cities” who lose federal funding by mandating the State of NJ pay these cities any monies lost by their refusal to comply with federal law. While I understand the motive behind such bills seeks to protect the legislators’ constituent cities, the practical implications are financially destructive for all of the non-sanctuary areas of the State.

New Jersey is almost broke. We have not made a full payment on our pension obligations in decades. A majority of our schools receive virtually no funding from the State. Indeed most of the areas I represent receive less than $500 per student per year. On the flip side, below are just some of the numbers of aid currently being provided to our “Sanctuary Cities”. If these bills were to go through, the State would be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars of additional aid into these communities. MONEY THAT DOES NOT EXIST.

In Newark,19-percent of all city residents are undocumented entrants. Newark currently receives $206.7 million in federal aid, amounting to $733 per resident or $2,932 per family of four. This aid is on top of an additional $742 million in school aid given to Newark by the State of New Jersey and $31 million in transitional aid also given by the State of New Jersey.

Jersey City, also a sanctuary city with more than 10 percent of residents being undocumented, receives $148 million in federal aid on top of $417 million in school aid given by the State of New Jersey.

Other NJ sanctuary cities include:
Trenton – $10 million in federal aid, $229 million in State school aid
Camden- $52 million in federal aid, $280 million in State school aid
Union City – $32.5 million in federal aid, $179 million in State school aid
West NY – $17 million in federal aid, $94 million in State school aid

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2016/Bills/S3500/3007_I1.PDF

 

 

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NJ’S SOLAR STUMBLE: SECTOR SHEDS 1,000 JOBS IN PAST YEAR

solar_power_theridgewoodblog

TOM JOHNSON | FEBRUARY 8, 2017

While rest of country showed strong 25 percent growth in solar jobs, New Jersey’s solar employment fell by 14 percent

The solar sector helped the economy grow last year by creating 51,000 jobs across the nation, but not in New Jersey, once one of the biggest success stories in the industry, where more than 1,000 jobs were lost.

While the rest of the country witnessed a 25 percent increase in job growth in the sector, New Jersey solar employment fell by 14 percent, according to the nonprofit Solar Foundation. It is one of only four states to experience a drop in jobs in the field, its annual report said.

The annual survey is startling given that the state experienced its second-biggest growth year ever, installing 353 megawatts, according to data compiled by the New Jersey Clean Energy Program. The state has more than 66,000 solar projects deployed.

For years, solar has been one of the fastest-growing segments of the economy, but the annual report by the foundation suggests otherwise. Its survey of thousands of solar businesses said total jobs in New Jersey fell as of November 2016 to 6,056, a drop from 7,071 over the previous 12 months.

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/02/07/nj-s-solar-stumble-sector-sheds-1-000-jobs-in-past-year/

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10 Fastest Growing Jobs In New Jersey In 2017

graduation

February 2,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, according to Zippa a career website , New Jersey is, and has been since its founding, a state in change. We’re growing, we’re progressing, we’re constantly on the move, it seems, financially, industrially, technologically, and of course, in the

New Jersey is, and has been since its founding, a state in change. We’re growing, we’re progressing, we’re constantly on the move, it seems, financially, industrially, technologically, and of course, in the

New Jersey is, and has been since its founding, a state in change. We’re growing, we’re progressing, we’re constantly on the move, it seems, financially, industrially, technologically, and of course, in the work force.

Some jobs that were popular fifty or sixty years ago are unheard of these days. Jobs that will be popular in fifty or sixty years — we may not even be able to guess.

But today, what we can guess are which jobs are going to be the most beneficial in one year, or even a few. Because we’ve crunched the data, and we’ve come up with a list of the fastest growing jobs in New Jersey.

Here are the top 10, and below, we’ll show you the top 100:

  1. Home Health Aides
  2. Operations Research Analysts
  3. Physical Therapist Assistants
  4. Physical Therapist Aides
  5. Physical Therapists
  6. Nurse Practitioners
  7. Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians
  8. Physician Assistants
  9. Occupational Therapists
  10. Helpers–Electricians

Okay, so really–this is pretty cool. Who would have thought, even twenty years ago, that home health aides and operations research analysts would be so in demand? Not only does this mean we’re progressing in some important areas, but it also means you might just be able to snag yourself a more secure job. (https://www.zippia.com/advice/fastest-growing-jobs-in-new-jersey/)