Big turnout at East Bay job fair may signal turnaround for pandemic-era job market
SAN PABLO (KPIX) -- The Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services (EHSD) 'Spring Job Fair' did not go as expected on Tuesday, but that turned out to be a good thing.
Organizers expected around 100 people to sign up for the career fair, but around 500 people ended up signing up. Considering the fact that over the past several months, many employers have had trouble filling positions, this was really an unexpected surge of people looking for jobs.
The organizers ended up opening the fair to more employers who needed to hire as a result.
"Frankly, I'm as eager as you to find out what is going on," said Patience Ofodu, a Workforce Services Specialist with the EHSD. "We're going to be reviewing the data after this today to find out who showed up, why they showed up, does this mean the market is turning – and are the job seekers really ready to go back to work?"
Employers there included Tesla, Amazon, Southwest Airlines, the USPS, TSA, BART, Panda Express, Caltrans, and more.
Among the jobseekers, was Beniyah Israel from Stockton, who's been unemployed since February.
"It's been really hard. I came all the way out here about an hour a way to look for jobs," he said. "The economy is going crazy. Gas prices are ridiculous. So pretty much, I came all the way from Stockton to Contra Costa County just to solidify – I don't want a job, I want a career."
Michael Bernick, an employment attorney with Duane Morris and the state's former Employment Development Department (EDD) Director, says the influx of job seekers at Tuesday's job fair is contrary to what the region has seen over the last six months.
"Workers have been coming back to the labor force here in California, but we're still down about 225,000 workers from the pre-pandemic number," he said. "No question it's promising. One, employers need workers still in a variety of sectors and occupations. And from a worker point of view, it's only good now. Get back in as soon as possible."
Bernick advises people who are unemployed or who are looking for a career change strike while the iron is hot.
"We've had a rare situation that we haven't seen much in the past forty years of having job openings and not enough workers," he said. "But there are a lot of indications that that is going to change."
On Wednesday, United Airlines is holding a job fair at Chase Center. They're looking to fill 800 open jobs, all based in San Francisco.
