Aug-14-12 LABOR COMMISSIONER CITES ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF TRUCKING AT TEAMSTERS CONVENTION
Contact: |
|
|
 -News Release- |
“We have 36,000 miles of highways in this state and 500,000 trucks moving freight each day on those roads. Within a one-day drive from New Jersey, truckers can reach 40 percent of the U.S. population or 100 million consumers who purchase $2 trillion in merchandise each year,” Wirths said during the convention keynote speech.
The Teamsters Joint Council 73 represents 16 union locals and 55,000 members in the New Jersey and metropolitan area.
Trucking is a key part of an industry cluster the LWD has labeled “Transportation, Logistics & Distribution” or TLD. It is among six industry clusters in New Jersey that employ more than half the state’s workforce and pay more than two-thirds of the wages in the state.
The LWD created six Talent Networks last year to promote those six industry clusters, particularly by enlisting employers in those sectors to help identify the skills and talents they need to remain prosperous. The Talent Networks link those employers to workforce training providers and educational institutions to properly prepare people to enter lucrative professions in those major industries.
Freight transportation, which falls within the state’s Transportation, Logistics & Distribution Talent Network, touches every aspect of American economic life and is of vital importance to the U.S. economy. The TLD industry cluster in New Jersey alone contributed $48.9 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product in 2009.
More than 70 percent of the goods moved in this nation are moved by trucks, and 80 percent of American communities receive their goods exclusively through trucking.
Commissioner Harold J. Wirths, Department of Labor and Workforce Development addressed the annual convention of the Teamsters Joint Council No. 73 at Caesars Atlantic City.
