There's strong growth in the transportation industry, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds in a report about occupations in North Jersey.

The time period covered is 2015 to 2017.

One of the bank's regional economists, Jason Bram, said Port Newark and Newark Liberty Airport play a strong role in the results.

There's job growth in truck driving, distribution and freight-handling. Bram said those are considered "middle-wage" jobs, in the $30,000 to $60,000 range. And growth in the middle wages means growth for the middle class.

"A lot of those jobs are in there," Bram said. "And you also want jobs in the lower-wage occupations, because those provide opportunities for a lot of people who would be in most need, living most close to the edge."

Bram said there's newfound growth in manufacturing in New Jersey, "which we have not seen for a long time."

"There is some opportunity there, for production type workers, and some of the manufacturing jobs are also technology-related," he said.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5.

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