News
The Labor Market, Then and Now: The First Two Decades of the 21st Century – Big Labor Market Trends
This is the first article in a three-part series that analyzes labor market, workforce, occupational, and educational trends since 2000. Co-authors are Dr. Carl Van Horn of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Nyerere Hodge of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Stuart Andreason of the Burning Glass Institute.
Pfeiffer – Lakewood schools borrowed millions from New Jersey and still can’t pay its bills
The Lakewood School District in New Jersey is facing severe financial distress, having borrowed $165 million since 2014 and now seeking an additional $93 million loan from the state to stay afloat. This mounting debt has been primarily attributed to the district's...
Kedar Nagarajan Named ANHD/Morgan Stanley Community Development Graduate Fellow
Kedar Nagarajan (MCRP ’23) was one of nine graduate students selected as a 2023-24 Morgan Stanley Community Development Graduate Fellow. He has five years of professional experience across three of India’s largest cities Bangalore, Bombay and New Delhi and worked with Professor DeFilippis on an ethnographic research project.
Stamato & Jaffe Opinion: The U.S. Supreme Court, regulation and the ‘deep state’
A new opinion piece by Linda Stamato and Sandy Jaffe, policy fellows at the New Jersey State Policy Lab covers how two recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court diminish the regulatory authority of federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection...
Hughes – What if the road from Tuckerton to Atlantic City was built?
Route S4A was intended to connect Tuckerton in Ocean County to Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey, during the 1920s. The road's construction would have significantly shortened the travel distance between North Jersey and Atlantic City, but it was never...
Wolff – We need to embrace restorative justice over retaliation, punishment
American culture tends to prioritize punishment and retaliation in various aspects of society, such as the criminal justice system and school discipline. It contrasts this punitive approach with the concept of restorative justice, which aims to repair harm and...
American Dream lawsuits are stacking up. Here’s why — and how they compare to other malls
The American Dream entertainment complex has faced an onslaught of 82 lawsuits since 2018, encompassing issues such as unpaid construction bills, injuries at its attractions, and defaults on loans, significantly surpassing neighboring malls in legal troubles. The...
Reconciling rising unemployment and strong job growth: NJ’s uncertain fiscal outlook
New Jersey’s unemployment rate has steadily risen over the past year and now ranks among the highest in the nation. But while some economists and others suggest that’s a cause for concern, the topline numbers may not tell the full story. The state unemployment rate...
Rutgers Team to Receive $1 Million in Federal Funding for Smart Kids and Cool Seniors Project
The project, “Smart Kids and Cool Seniors,” is as an interdisciplinary collaboration of Rutgers researchers. It seeks to assist low-resource urban residents as they adapt to increasing heat stress and local air pollution, both outdoors and indoors.
Big retirement payouts for top cops, fire chiefs and school brass cost $76M. Why can’t N.J. stop them?
Despite attempts to cap significant retirement payouts to high-ranking officials in New Jersey, such as police chiefs, fire chiefs, and school administrators since 2010, generous payouts continue, impacting the state's highest property taxes and diverting funds from...
New Report from Marc Pfeiffer – First, Do No Harm: Algorithms, AI, and Digital Product Liability
The potential for algorithmic harm(s) are commonly reported to be found in (but are not limited to) technologies such as generative artificial intelligence chatbots, social media, virtual reality, Internet of Things, surveillance tech, robots, etc. This new report provides a pathway to reduce algorithmic harms by incentivizing developers to first, do no harm as opposed to work fast and break things.
Dr. Patti O’Brien-Richardson Speaks at World Afro Day
Dr. Patti O’Brien-Richardson was a speaker at the 2023 World Afro Day – Workplace on September 15th in the UK. Dr. O’Brien-Richardson provided hair discrimination policy training for corporations and HR professionals, spoke on the need for policies in the workplace, and the physical and mental health impact of not having hair discrimination legal protection.






