Jobs and the Economy
Promoting Job Creation and Economic Growth
While the economy is coming back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, the recovery has been too uneven for many middle class families. Sen. Booker understands the challenges New Jersey workers and employers face – he knows that the investments we make in education and skills training, infrastructure, and public-private partnerships create jobs and grow the economy.
Supporting Job Seekers
With unemployment rates still high, Sen. Booker recognizes the importance of extending long-term unemployment insurance, which is a crucial lifeline to families across New Jersey and the nation. That’s why he joined a bipartisan group of senators to lead legislation to extend expired unemployment insurance for more than 2 million Americans, including 144,000 New Jerseyans.
In his first speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Booker highlighted stories about New Jersey jobseekers in his first speech on the Senate floor. Senator Booker’s leadership in passing an extension of unemployment insurance in the Senate is part of the senator’s broader efforts to expand economic opportunity for all and encourage growth through economic mobility.
Skills to Compete
Despite the fact that there are 10 million unemployed Americans, there are more than 4 million jobs unfilled. To build on his efforts to address high unemployment, Sen. Booker joined with Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and introduced the Leveraging and Energizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs (LEAP) Act.
The LEAP Act will better equip workers with the skills needed to fill available jobs by incentivizing an expansion of the nation’s apprenticeship programs through a new federal tax credit for employers. The legislation would strengthen our nation’s economy by enhancing our pool of skilled workers. Sen. Booker believes encouraging the growth of paid apprenticeship programs is essential and a good investment of taxpayer dollars because our future competitiveness and economic strength depends on the innovation and skill of our workforce. Individuals who complete registered apprenticeship programs earn over $240,000 more during their careers than people who did not participate in such programs, and the tax return on every federal government dollar invested in registered apprenticeship programs is $27.
Promoting Small Business and Entrepreneurship
New Jersey is home to over 700,000 small businesses across a wide array of industries including construction, manufacturing, retail, science and technology, and health care. These small businesses represent 64 percent of net new private sector jobs, making entrepreneurs and small business leaders are essential to delivering services and creating the job opportunities that are critical to our economy and local communities.
As a member of the Small Business Committee, Sen. Booker is a leader for New Jersey on small business financing issues. Through close coordination with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Sen. Booker is working to bring attention and renewed focus to issues of accessing capital, particularly the challenges facing many women and members of minority communities.
In an effort to better connect New Jersey entrepreneurs to the capital resources necessary to establish and grow their businesses, Sen. Booker has hosted five industry roundtable discussions in cities like Camden, New Brunswick, Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken. These forums convene small business leaders, lenders, community organizations, government officials, and entrepreneurs for discussions that highlight the great work being done by entrepreneurs across the state and explain how small businesses can best position themselves to take advantage of targeted resources. Senator Booker has also embarked on a series of “Main Street Walks” visiting New Jersey small businesses. Additionally, Sen. Booker is a staunch advocate of ensuring that the capital required to start and grow small businesses reaches owners in all communities. To that end, he supports innovations in small business lending and has advocated for increasing SBA loans to diverse communities.
Sen. Booker understands the importance of business accelerators to cultivate New Jersey entrepreneurs and provide resources. That’s why he introduced the Startup Opportunity Accelerator (SOAR) Act to direct $25 million in funding over five years to a Growth Accelerator Fund, which would allow startup businesses to compete for grants to help their businesses grow.