Carl E. Van Horn, Ph.D. | Heldrich Center

Faculty & Affiliated Faculty

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Carl Van Horn, Ph.D.

Faculty & Affiliated Faculty Leadership

Director & Distinguished Professor of Public Policy

Dislocated Workers, long-term unemployment, Older Workers, Research Design, workforce policy

Biography

Carl Van Horn is Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the founding Director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Since 2013, he has been a Visiting, Non-Resident, Scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is also Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning in the Office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

Van Horn is the author or editor of 17 books and over 150 scholarly articles and reports on American public policy and the American labor market including Working Scared (Or not at All, (2014); Transforming U.S. Workforce Development Policies for the 21st Century (2015); and Investing in America’s Workforce (2018).

Van Horn has held several senior positions in government at the state and federal levels, including: Director of Policy for the State of New Jersey; Chair of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority; Member of the Boards of NJ Transit and the Commission on Science and Technology; and, Senior Economist, Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

President Clinton appointed Van Horn to a Presidential Emergency Board to mediate labor-management disputes in the railroad industry. He is the neutral Trustee of the United Mine Workers Health Fund and a member of the New Brunswick Cultural Center Board.

Van Horn graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh in Honors Political Science and Sociology and earned a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science/public policy from the Ohio State University.

Related Work

Work Trends Survey of Recent College Graduates Making the Most of an Aging Workforce Labor Market, Then and Now: Changing Realities in the 21st Century Older Workers, the Great Recession, and the Impact of Long-Term Unemployment Americans' Attitudes About Work, Employers, and the Government Anxious with Reason: The Future of the American Worker “New Unemployables”: Older Job Seekers Struggle to Find Work During the Great Recession New Jersey Construction-Outlook/Best Practices in Workforce Development Laid Off: American Workers and Employers Assess a Volatile Labor Market Five-Year Strategic Plan for Pilots, Demonstrations, Research, and Evaluations 2000-2005 Meeting the Needs of the Workforce in a Shifting Regional Economy Standing on Shaky Ground: Employers Sharply Concerned in Aftermath of Recession and Terror Unhappy, Worried, and Pessimistic: Americans in the Aftermath of the Great Recession Turning Brownfields into Jobfields American Workers Assess an Economic Disaster Understanding Occupational and Skill Demand in New Jersey's Transportation and Logistics Industry Local and Interurban Passenger Transit, and Trucking & Warehousing Restricted Access: Work Trends Survey of Employers About People with Disabilities  Disposable Worker: Living in a Job-Loss Economy  Distressed American Worker: Fears of Permanent Job Loss Soar Healthy at Work? Unequal Access to Employer Wellness Programs Human Resource Management in New Jersey State Government Chasing the American Dream: Recent College Graduates and the Great Recession Solutions at Work: Progress Report, 1997-2007 Changing Realities at Work Require Reforms in U.S. Workforce Policies Putting One Million Americans Back to Work through Emergency Jobs Programs One-Stop Innovations: Leading Change Under the WIA One-Stop System Final Report Categorizing the Unemployed by the Impact of the Recession Heldrich Center 2005 New Jersey Employer Survey Results Improving Education and Training for Older Workers (report) JVS Conference: Van Horn Describes Impact of Recession on U.S. Workforce Policy Rescue Plan for American Workers Technology-driven Worker Dislocation: A Persistent Challenge in Need of Solutions Helping Job Seekers Who Have Limited Basic Skills Development of a Career Planning Course at Rutgers University Heldrich Center 2006 New Jersey Employer Survey Results Identifying Gaps and Setting Priorities for Employment and Training Research Twin Crises: The Economic Impact of COVID-19 and Americans’ Outlook for the Future Improving Education and Training for Older Workers (brief) Opening Doors for Workers with Disabilities Teachers and the 21st Century Economy Preparing the Workforce for a Reformed Health Care System: Toward a Research Agenda A Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Americans Agree the Economy is Strong, but Worry about the Future: Topline Data A Tale of Two Workforces: The Benefits and Burdens of Working Part Time (report) A Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Americans Agree the Economy is Strong, but Worry about the Future: Media Release (full report) Retaining and Expanding New Jersey’s Telecommunications Sector Enhancing Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Adult Workers Left Out. Forgotten? Recent High School Graduates and the Great Recession Understanding Occupational and Skill Demand in New Jersey’s Construction Industry Energy Security, Innovation, and Sustainability Initiative: Brief Background on Workforce Challenges Survey Results: Assessing the Financial Impact of the Pandemic in New Jersey A Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Americans Agree the Economy is Strong, but Worry about the Future: Media Release Foreign Investment: New Jersey’s Foreign-Born Workers Boost the State’s Economy Understanding Occupational and Skill Demand in New Jersey’s Health Care Industry Anxious American Worker Getting Back to Work: New Public/Private Strategies for Laid-Off American Workers Workforce Needs of the New Jersey Energy Industry Unemployed Workers and the Great Recession Long-Term Unemployed and Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from a Panel Study of Workers Who Lost a Job During the Great Recession What Me Worry? Most Americans Not Concerned about the Impacts of Technology on Jobs (Report) Assessing Select Financial Impact Questions for New Jersey Women- and Minority-owned Businesses Out of Work and Losing Hope: The Misery and Bleak Expectations of American Workers Working Hard But Staying Poor: A National Survey of the Working Poor and Unemployed Joys and Disappointments of Older Part-time Workers (Report) Implications of the Great Recession and Economic Change for the Workforce Development System Winning the Workforce Challenge: A Report on New Jersey's Knowledge Economy Workforce Development and Labor Trends in New Jersey Who Will Let the Good Times Roll? A National Survey on Jobs, the Economy, and the Race for President At a Crossroads: American Workers Assess Jobs and Economic Security Amid the Race for President Work Trends Surveys on the Great Recession Second Wind: Workers, Retirement, and Social Security No End in Sight: The Agony of Prolonged Unemployment Trends in American Opinions about Jobs, 2010 to 2021 Long-Term Unemployment: Conditions, Consequences, and Strategies Unfulfilled Expectations of Recent College and High School Graduates in the United States Unfulfilled Expectations: Recent College Graduates Struggle in a Troubled Economy Business Summit Presentation: Middlesex County Economic and Workforce Competitiveness Project Insights from the New Jersey Business and Organization COVID-19 Impact Survey Education and Workforce Development in the Early 21st Century Labor Market Leveraging State Economic Development Resources to Create Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities Evaluation of the Workforce Development Partnership Program in 1994, 1995, and 1996 Emerging Skills Needs of a Rapidly Changing, Innovation-Driven Economy Whipsawed, Precarious, and Pessimistic: Americans’ Changing Views About the Economy and Labor Market During a Decade of Fundamental Change Getting Back to Work: New Public/Private Strategies for Laid-Off American Workers Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in their Futures Left Behind: The Long-term Unemployed Struggle in an Improving Economy Investing in America's Workforce in the 21st Century Workplace Divided: How Americans View Discrimination and Race on the Job New Jersey COVID-19 Business and Nonprofit Organization Survey: Nonprofit Organization Insights Interview with Carl Van Horn Work-Filled Retirement: Workers’ Changing Views on Employment and Leisure What a Difference a (Pandemic) Year Makes: Less Concern, More Confidence Expressed by Workers as 2021 Comes to an End Seeking Strategies: New Directions for New Jersey's Telecommunications Industry Recession, Recovery, and Regeneration: Workforce Development in the 21st Century Good Advice about Education and Training Programs Is Hard to Find Profile of the Workforce Development Partnership Program 70 Percent Solution: Five Principles for Helping Young People Make Decisions During and After High School State of Workforce Diversity 2014 Diminished Lives and Futures: A Portrait of America in the Great-Recession Era Healing the Wounded Economy Strategies for Including People with Disabilities in the Green Jobs Talent Pipeline: Roundtable Proceedings Overview of U.S. Corporate Policies in the Employment of People with Disabilities: Spotlight on the Retail Trade Sector Anguish of Unemployment  Great Recession and the Next Generation of Workforce Development Strategies Older Workers, the Great Recession, and the Impact of Long-Term Unemployment Holding On: Americans Assess a Changing Economic Landscape Knowledge Rules! Older Workers, Precarious Jobs, and Unemployment: Challenges and Policy Recommendations Long-Term Unemployment: What's the Problem? What's the Solution? Degrees for What Jobs? Raising Expectations for Universities and Colleges in a Global Economy Making the Grade: What American Workers Think Should Be Done to Improve Education Diversity Forum Presentation Research for the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College Research on Education and Training for Older Workers Bouncing Back Nine Lessons in Resilience and Reemployment New Education and Skills Requirements for the New Jersey Economy Profile of the Workforce Development Partnership Program, 2000 Helping Older, Long-term Unemployed Job Seekers A Report on the Heldrich Center’s New Start Career Network Workplace Divided: Appendix A Workplace Divided: Appendix E Work Trends Survey on the Economy and Employee Layoffs Workplace Divided: List of Figures Turning Points: Americans’ Growing Confidence in the Job Market, Perspectives on the Presidential Election, and Assessments of Foreign and Immigrant Workers U.S. Workers Assess the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Jobs: Infographics Workers’ Sour Assessment of the U.S. Labor Market and Inflation Cuts Across Party Lines on the Eve of National Elections in 2024 Workplace Divided Workplace Divided: Diversity and Equity, and Inclusion and Discrimination Workplace Divided: Conclusion U.S. Workers Assess the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Jobs: Topline Survey Results Workplace Divided: The Role of Government and Employers Workplace Divided: Table of Contents Workplace Divided: List of Tables Workplace Divided: Appendix F Workplace Divided: Perceptions of Workplace Discrimination Workplace Divided: Appendix B Workplace Divided: Acknowledgments Workplace Divided: References Workplace Divided: Endnotes Workplace Divided: Opinions and Experiences: Economic Mobility Workplace Divided: Appendix C Workplace Divided: Appendix D A Workplace Divided: A National Survey Workplace Divided: Authors Workplace Divided: Executive Summary Workplace Divided: Background, Research Questions, Survey Goals and Methods, and Survey Overview Science and Math Education are Key to Retaining Top Jobs in New Jersey’s Pharma/Med-Tech Sector