All Articles Tagged "job fair"
Lawmakers Trade the Town Hall for Job Fairs
(Christian Science Monitor) — With unemployment locked in double digits in many congressional districts, the defining political event of the summer for many members of Congress is becoming the jobs fair, sponsored by lawmakers to connect constituents with actual hiring prospects. The concept has taken off with conservative Republicans as well as liberal Democrats serving some of the poorest communities in America. The political advantages are two-fold: The events cast members as doing something about the nation’s jobs crisis while at the same time shielding them from public confrontations with angry voters. It means town-hall meetings – once a staple of the congressional summer season – are now in decline thanks to the testy summer of 2009, when health-care protests helped launch the tea party movement and provided endless grist for opposition campaign ads.
Thousands Turn Out for Atlanta’s Black Caucus Job Fair
(ABC) — Thousands of unemployed waited overnight, camping out in their business suits and office heels and braving the tormenting heat in Atlanta to stand in line for a job fair Thursday. Authorities treated 20 people for heat exhaustion as they struggled to keep the line moving and get people moved inside. The incredible turnout at the job fair comes on the heels of the state labor commissioner’s announcement that Georgia’s jobless rate rose. The state unemployment rate increased to 10.1 percent in July from the 9.9 percent in June. The unemployment rate for African-Americans stands at 15.9 percent, far above the national rate of 9.1 percent. July marks the 48th consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate. The line was full of hopefuls who waited for hours in a line that wrapped around the Atlanta Technical College where the event was held.
Norton Job Fair Inspires Hope
(Washington Informer) — Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s 14th annual job fair drew more than 4,000 job hunters to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Aug. 9. Scores of people began lining up several hours before the fair began. ”We are always pleased to see a high turn-out at our job fairs, but this year’s crowd, which began lining up at 7:30 a.m. for an 11:00 a.m. job fair, brought us a share of heartbreak,” Norton said. “Coming out of the debt ceiling debacle, the cuts-only debt ceiling bill, and the deepest market plunge in years, I feared that residents would be disheartened,” she continued. “Instead, we found people grateful to know that there are jobs here, and to have the chance to speak to a real person in today’s job market where job search is done almost exclusively online.”
Job Fair Offers Hope and Frustration
(Chicago News Cooperative) — This is what the Great Recession of 2011 has wrought: By mid-morning Tuesday, a line of job seekers seeking admission to a transportation industry jobs fairsponsored by President Obama’s hometown congressman, Rep. Bobby L. Rush, stretched for more than half a mile under a blazing sun across the campus of Chicago State University. It took nearly five minutes to walk from the beginning of the line at the glass doors of the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center to the end. Person by jobless person, the line snaked past the Jacoby D. Dickens Physical Education and Athletics Center, the Cook Administration building, the Williams Science Center, Harold Washington Hall, the Business and Health Sciences building and the College of Education.
Black Caucus Launches Job Fairs Around the Country
(News One) — With Black unemployment at 16.2 percent and no solution on the horizon, the Congressional Black Caucus, who have been vocal about the lack of unemployment programs aimed at African Americans, are launching their own cross-country job fair beginning this week.
