The 10 fastest growing occupations in New Jersey through 2008 are projected to include desirable computer-related, health care, and human service professional jobs. Jobs that continue to grow as a share of the work force but provide relatively low pay and benefits are lawn maintenance, home health care, and child-care workers. Some low-skill growth occupations, notably health care, are difficult for ex-offenders to enter because of statutory restrictions on hiring persons with criminal records. Practitioners who provide job-search assistance for ex-offenders mention the following job categories as options for low-skilled ex-offenders with educational deficits: retail sales, packers and packagers, laundry and dry-cleaning, helpers in construction trades, construction laborers, waiters and waitresses, food preparation and serving-related jobs, maids and housekeeping cleaners, and janitors and cleaners. For these types of jobs, ex-offenders must compete with former welfare recipients required to seek work, students, and some over-qualified applicants desperate for any job in a shrinking job market. Regarding relevant research, there is a need to quantify and analyze the current pattern of ex-offender employment and earnings in New Jersey. Suggestions are offered for how this research might be conducted. 2 tables and 8 references