Rutgers Workforce Center Honored for Research on Recession's Impact

Rutgers University’s John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development has received a 2013 National Policy Impact Award for its series of surveys exploring the consequences of the Great Recession on employment in the United States.

The National Policy Impact Award is presented annually by the American Association of Public Opinion Research. The AAPOR said in a statement that the Heldrich Center received the award for its Work Trends survey series, which has given national policymakers a better understanding of the financial and psychological impact of the recession and its impact on U.S. employment.

“This was a very rewarding but painful research project on the effects of long-term unemployment,” said Cliff Zukin, a senior research fellow at the Heldrich Center and professor with Rutgers’ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “We followed a national sample of 1,200 unemployed people for three years. We witnessed a continuous erosion of their economic status and savings, and great social and psychological trauma as the Great Recession took its toll on millions.”

Rutgers’ series of Work Trends reports is available for download at http://bit.ly/Q3RJb3.