New Jersey gave big corporations massive tax breaks to move to Camden, the poorest city in the state, intending to breathe some hope into the city by sparking economic development. And now we know how many Camden people these firms actually hired: Hardly any.

Subaru, which got a $118 million tax break, employed just 10 Camden locals out of its 786 employees in the city. Lockheed Martin got a $107 million tax break and employed just three Camden people. American Water Works got a $164.1 million tax break and employs just seven locals. And that’s typical.

This new data, reported recently by Nancy Solomon of WNYC, is the result of political pressure from local activists that compelled city officials to require these disclosures last year; they began releasing it over the past month.

Clearly, we need to fix this. Regardless of where you stand on the overall strategy of tax incentives, people in Camden shouldn’t be on the losing end of the deal. Here are a few suggestions.

Start with the Legislature. The law that created these incentives needs repairs, because we have to do better by the folks in Camden. For instance: Why not create a rule that requires the businesses benefitting from these incentives to hire a certain number of Camden people? Or pay into a fund to bolster job training?

We might not be able to slap new restrictions on businesses that already signed contracts with the state for these incentive awards, but we could create this new standard for future contracts. And if businesses can’t find locals with the qualifications they require, they could put money into a job training fund that helps get local people certified in skills like welding or phlebotomy.

Yes, some companies in Camden already donate a few million dollars to job training and other local causes, but given the massive size of these tax breaks they’re getting, they could surely do more.

And we also need to aim for businesses that better match the workforce of Camden. Why not build our incentives program to attract firms that can actually benefit the community, like subsidy recipient Eastern Metal Recycling, which salvages car materials and employs 186 local residents out of a workforce of 648?

We should also look at how we can incentivize smarter development. The original vision in Camden was for first floor retail in these office buildings that could create foot traffic and working-class jobs in this city, not a business fortresses that mostly keeps the community out.

Which brings us to a core problem here: The bill drafting process got hijacked by the family of South Jersey political boss George Norcross. He championed the legislation that created these special incentives, which his brother Donald Norcross sponsored, and ended up being edited by the law firm of a third brother, Phil Norcross.

What resulted was a law that gave more than $1 billion in subsidies to businesses, many connected to the Norcross family, without important strings attached to ensure that Camden people benefitted. It was a universal, bipartisan mistake to approve this without ensuring more jobs for Camden, one way or another. Time for a course correction.

Private businesses that got subsidies need to step up as well. Find better ways to recruit than just putting a job listing on some website that nobody sees. Why not partner with community colleges or churches, or hold a job fair to attract local people? Ronsha Dickerson, a Camden community organizer, says she knows many would jump at the chance. “We don’t want handouts, we want to work,” she told us last week. Both her parents worked in the city, at Campbell Soup and on the docks, back in the 70′s when jobs were flourishing in Camden, she recalled. “Now my own children can’t even find a job in the city of Camden,” she lamented.

Companies should also reevaluate the barriers they’ve constructed to hiring locally. Until just a few months ago, the Philadelphia 76ers were requiring college degrees even for jobs in ticket sales. They recently dropped that requirement, something other firms should consider too. They could also hire people with past convictions who are looking for a fresh start. Eastern Metal Recycling does a great job of that, according to Daniel Lombardo, who runs three Camden halfway houses where workers do drug screenings, have a supervisor who checks in with their employer and can be replaced immediately if necessary – which happens very rarely. “They love our clients because of how of how intensely motivated they are to work,” he said, adding, “It’s really nice pay, too.”

Rep. Donald Norcross helped connect the halfway houses with that recycling employer, Lombardo told us. So why can’t these other businesses do that kind of outreach?

The 76ers could have offered a good example of how tax incentives are supposed to work: They might have located in Philly instead of Camden, if not for these state subsidies. But where we came up short was the lack of responsibilities imposed on businesses in exchange for these massive tax credits.

It’s not enough to lure them to Camden. We have to make sure they’re doing their part to employ Camden people.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.