Unemployment is still high, and if you are looking for a job chances are you have been hitting the streets for months, but we found the industries that are hiring in our area right now.
Workforce Solutions offices across the area are almost always crowded. Cynthia Cervantes has a part-time job, but she's searching for something more permanent and the strain is showing.
"I have a son. I do not get child support or anything," she said. "I get $35 worth of food stamps every month and I am working, and it's hard."
While finding a job is not easy, we found several industries looking to hire now. According to Workforce Solutions, in September the light industrial sector posted 704 openings, administration another 588, the financial industry posted 530 jobs and engineering another 340. Overall there were nearly 4,500 openings posted by Workforce Solutions in September. Two years ago, a mere 2,600 jobs were listed.
Steven Robinson with the Creative Group said, "What we found is that 62 percent of the hiring managers we are talking to are finding difficulty identifying the talent they are looking for."
Robinson works for the Creative Group, which matches firms with marketing and advertising employees. According to Creative, that industry is seeing a need for people with computer skills, noting that 25 percent of web design companies it surveyed were planning to hire more people.
"If you have skill sets in the mobile development space, you are probably a hot commodity right now," Robinson said.
Robinson says community colleges and tech schools offer classes that can lead to jobs in about a year. Daniel Polanco hopes that getting training in graphic design will lead to a job soon.
"A lot of companies are hiring people who have a background in graphics and design," he said. "Plus you can open your own business and start working from the ground up."
According to Workforce Solutions, our area added 17,000 jobs in the energy, manufacturing and wholesale industries over the past year. Health care is another big area, adding 7,000 jobs over the last year.
There are still a lot of people who cannot find a job, but we are certainly better in this area than about two years ago when hiring was flat among all businesses. Experts say contract work or project work is picking up which often leads to full employment.
