A state Senate committee has wielded a sharp stick to prod the Department of Labor to do more to reduce a lengthy backlog of unemployment appeals, releasing a bill that would require it to begin paying benefits in cases that remain unresolved after eight weeks. Beating that deadline would be a challenge, even under an improved process outlined by department officials at a hearing last week before the Labor committee. They touted tougher rules to penalize claimants who are found to have lost jobs because of misconduct. The committee voted along party lines, with the two Republicans abstaining…

As the unemployed continue to search for jobs, joining them this May and June will be new graduates, hopeful their new degrees will lead to employment in a chosen field. What will both sets of job-hunters face in the months ahead? A recent report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) positively shows that the hiring environment is improving. Employers plan to hire 10.2 percent more college grads this year. However, nearly 33 applicants are expected to apply for each open position. That's a worse picture than last year, when each opening had 21 applicants vying for it…

Police departments across New Jersey have been hit hard by layoffs over the past few years, due to budget cuts in a crippled economy.  The effects of the recession may linger, but one law-enforcement agency in the state is actually hiring.  New Jersey State Police announced Wednesday that they will begin accepting applications next month from candidates who want to be state troopers. As many as 225 spots will be available when two State Police academy classes commence training next spring.  The application period runs online from May 7 to 29. This is the first time the state police have …

Ocean County Vocational Technical School, located in Toms River, is seeing record numbers of students registering for classes. Frank Folinus, director of the Adult Education Division since 1992, attributes much of the school’s increase in registration to the tuition costs, which are quite low when compared to other colleges in the area, as well as the circumstances people are finding themselves in during the current economic situation. “People come here to change their careers, or to begin a career that will keep them employable,” said Folinus. In 2009 the school had 435 registered students …

Whether they are checking badges, scooping ice cream or sliding a slice into a pizza oven, the seasonal employers at the tourist destinations along Point Pleasant Beach and Seaside Heights are hiring now for the coming summer. Seasonal employment for these summer jobs is often thought of as work for teenagers and college students, but all are encouraged to apply. It's several months at minimum wage rates on the beach and boards. It's also as many as 800 people Jenkinson's hopes to hire, as part of an industry that employs more than 500,000 people throughout New Jersey. According to the New …

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez is promoting his proposals to boost the nation's economy by getting long-term unemployed individuals back to work through private-public job-training partnerships. Menendez (D-NJ) has proposed $1 billion in federal funding for a competitive tax credit to encourage the partnerships between businesses and colleges. "Obviously, a growing economy is going to be the biggest driver of getting people back to work, but even in this economy, as it is recovering, I hear from New Jersey businesses: 'Senator, I have a series of jobs that I have available right now, but I don't …

Claudia Clarke, an aspiring pediatrician, will be loaded down with $210,000 in loans when she graduates this June from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with plans to practice medicine in depressed areas where doctors are scare. “I don’t think that where you live should determine what kind of medical care you get,” she said. Clarke’s idealism is getting some financial affirmation from the federal government. Clarke is one of 77 medical students nationwide -- and the only student in New Jersey -- chosen in this year’s round of grants from the National Health Service Corps…

The demand for healthcare workers continues to be strong amid an ongoing economic recession, and several local employers are hoping to fill that demand in a job fair on Thursday. For the last ten years Guide Publications, a publishing company in Long Branch that specializes in recruitment, has sponsored and hosted Healthcare Career Fairs throughout New Jersey. This week, on Thursday Feb. 16, the Career Fair will be in Toms River at the Holiday Inn. Mike Beson, the owner of Guideposts said that the Healthcare Career Fairs target all nursing professionals, but that the most in-demand positions …

Bridget, 49, in her fourth year as a participant in the Displaced Homemakers program at Ocean County College is somewhat a veteran of the program—and a proud one.  After divorcing six years ago and raising her children on her own, including her youngest who has Down Syndrome, Bridget soon became one of the many victims of the mortgage crisis and lost her home. Taking after her Italian immigrant parents’ strong work ethic and her extended family’s close bond she worked to support herself and was lucky to have her brother offer assistance with short term housing for her family. But with minimal…

A weak economy can make any work-a-day job easier to take, but none could be happier than the crew who report to CVR on Industrial Way in Eatontown. It's definitely not the building that inspires them. Inside the warehouse, conference rooms and classrooms have a worn, non-profit feel. Rooms are cramped and the lighting is office building unflattering. And yet, everyone here is smiling. Really, everyone. At an anger management group session, the participants wave enthusiastically and shout hello when introduced to a reporter. And for Patch's benefit the group leader asks a woman with …

About this column: A weekly series detailing both personal stories of unemployment, and local services that help the unemployed. Topics include job searches, unemployment figures, and local profiles. Going to college and getting her degree was something Belinda had always planned on doing but had put it off over the last ten years to raise her daughters and be a wife. But when she divorced and was left without support and to care for her five young daughters alone, the prospect of education dropped to the bottom of the list of priorities due to the cost and the time involved. To support her …

The Displaced Homemakers program founded in 1979 was created to assist women who have worked in the home for a number of years, but who now finds herself as the primary source of household income and support for herself and children.   In many of these cases, the woman has never been in the workplace or has been out of it for an extended period of time and therefore is underemployed and has difficulty in finding a job or starting a career that will support herself and/or her children, the program organizers said.  New Jersey has 15 Displaced Homemaker programs in 14 counties and have assisted…

As part of an ongoing series throughout 2012, Toms River Patch will be highlighting programs in the area for local job seekers to find employment. This week's column explores the impact of computer skills on the job search, via an Ocean County Library Program. A series of classes at the Ocean County Library is aiming to reduce a hurdle for job-seekers: computer illiteracy. Whether it's navigating online job applications, mastering email skills or gaining confidence in Microsoft Word, the library program is focusing on individuals who are looking for employment but who need help with computer …

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't been unemployed for some part of their life. Whether it's a firing, layoff, the job search after graduation or another situation, a period of unemployment may be a few short hours or it could be years. In these economic times, you may currently be among the unemployed, or you may be feeling the effects at your job where layoffs might have occurred, or you may know a family member or friend that is seeking a job.  Every Monday at Toms River Patch, we'll be telling those stories. Our series, 52 Weeks of Unemployment, is a look at local services …