CWA and NJPP Issue Joint Report on Critical Understaffing in Social Services for N.J.

A new report from CWA and New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) finds that declining staffing and increasing caseloads are impacting the ability of social service workers to assist New Jersey residents.

“Understaffed and Underfunded: Barriers to Effective Anti-Poverty Assistance” includes findings from surveys conducted with nearly 600 CWA members working in social services in N.J. Across multiple agencies surveyed from 2019 to 2023, staffing levels decreased by 3% while caseloads increased by 32%. Nearly 3/4 of respondents reported that understaffing prevents families from receiving benefits in a timely manner.

“Our agency primarily services low-income families and is designed to assist with their financial struggles,” said Chair of the CWA Welfare Council and CWA Local 1084 Steward Tyniquah Mullen. “On the other hand, it isn't servicing the financial needs of their staff to help the individuals in the community we serve; the staffing shortage is causing a significant delay in ensuring vital anti-poverty assistance to the residents in our respective counties.”

“I became a social service employee to get people the same help that I relied on when I was serving our country,” said Ocean County Board of Social Services Chapter VP and CWA Local 1088 member Steven Hernandez. “During my tenure in social service work in New Jersey, low pay and short staffing have led to increasing stress, low morale, and the loss of time to work closely with our clients to get them the help they need. Fortunately, at Ocean County we recently ratified a contract to significantly increase starting pay. That has led to us hiring 60 new employees. All counties and the state need to prioritize increasing pay and taking this staffing shortage seriously. Our communities deserve fully staffed social service agencies where the workers are fairly paid and have reasonable workloads so that we can offer the quality of care that we got into this work to provide.”

The report also includes insights from CWA Local 1087 President Joanne McWilliams and CWA Local 1085 member Paul Watkins.

Click here to read the full report.