Tax breaks for corporations lured into moving to Camden are back in the news. WNYC’s Nancy Solomon, who helped break the inside story of insider dealing that made the corporate moves possible, has now pointed to the poor record these companies have had in hiring Camden residents.

As I reported in my book, The Paradox of Urban Revitalization, a generous state jobs program was converted into a capital inducement program in Camden. An effort to assure the employment of Camden residents came only belatedly and on a largely volunteer basis, as the head of the Camden Partnership, Kris Kolluri, took it upon himself to jawbone the recently arrived companies into hiring locally. Kullari has since left his position and there is not any public evidence that job training and placement has since been a city priority. .

Now the state’s new numbers are out, and they aren’t impressive. As Solomon reports, Subaru, which received $188 million in tax breaks, employs only 10 Camden residents out of a work force of 786. The Philadelphia 76ers, who received $82 million to build a practice facility in Camden, employs 11 residents out of 275 employees.

Reacting to Solomon’s reporting, Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen responded with bluster, choosing to label the report “poverty porn” and another example in a long history of outsiders trying to tear the city down. Citing the city’s low level of unemployment, he painted a much more positive picture, without disputing the low numbers, however.

Unemployment rates in the city are only one indication of its condition, as many residents are unable to work and have dropped out of the workforce. The Camden Works organization Kollori helped set up is unfunded and largely an information portal. That’s not enough to get young people coming out of school into the work force or to help those unemployed or underemployed prepared for the jobs that have materialized under the state program. Meanwhile, any trip through the city reveals the obvious lack of investment in necessities, most notably housing, outside the central city. It’s not surprising that the mayor chose to single out Cooper Hospital—another beneficiary of the state’s generous tax benefits—as a sign of the city’s vitality. But Cooper’s $2 billion expansion brings little to the table in terms of addressing the city’s persistent poverty.

The exchange reflects the uncertain passage the city has entered into. Federal funds helped keep the city afloat during COVID. The city continues to garner praise for its policing, but at a very high price of some $165 million a year, as high as any city in the country on a per capita basis. The only way the budget can be balanced under state law is through the infusion of state funds. A lack of local reporting leaves the public guessing what that number is, but the problem clearly continues even after the state took over the city  a decade ago in an effort to make the city economically self-sufficient..

Protests are planned about the jobs report, as is a Camden Works jobs fair Carstarphen is promoting. The larger context remains largely unreported, but clearly Camden—unlike Newark, for instance–is not taking seriously the goals of equity and shared prosperity, even as it continues to tout its position as a “city rising.”