Locals, employers seek job options for summer as economy reopens while pandemic wanes

Locals, employers look to connect during Tuesday’s job fair hosted by DeKalb Chamber, park district

DeKALB – Fifteen-year-old Keari Neeley of DeKalb has been looking for her first-ever job.

To help with the job search, she attended a job fair at Haish Gym in DeKalb on Tuesday with her parents, Kaitlin and Kenneth. The job fair, hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb Park District, featured 23 registered businesses looking to fill summer and part-time positions.

Neeley said that the job fair helped her “see what’s out there” before she applies for summer jobs.

In addition to job applications, booths also handed out free items. Registered attendees could also win $25 gift cards to local businesses.

Matt Duffy, the executive director of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, said that the event “helps connect people looking for jobs with jobs in the community that are available.”

“The job fair features businesses with open positions for all different types of jobs: food, senior care, 3M, clerical and more,” Duffy said. “There are lots of people looking for jobs. It’s the highest need I’ve known in more than 20 years.”

With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine and virus case counts on a downward trend, local economies far and wide have begun to reopen in preparation for the summer months and to foster a financial recovery from the impacts of the pandemic’s shutdowns, meant to mitigate viral spread.

The recovery of America’s job market hit a pause last month as many businesses — from restaurants and hotels to factories and construction companies — struggled to find enough workers to catch up with a rapidly strengthening economic rebound.

Employers added just 266,000 jobs in April, sharply lower than in March and far fewer than economists had expected. With viral cases declining and states and localities easing restrictions, the recovery from the pandemic recession has been so fast that many businesses have been caught flat-footed in the face of surging consumer demand.

Last month’s hiring slowdown appears to reflect a host of factors. Nearly 3 million people are reluctant to look for work because they fear catching the virus, according to government surveys. More women also dropped out of the workforce last month, likely to care for children, after many had returned in the previous two months.

In addition, construction companies and manufacturers, especially automakers, have been left short of parts because of clogged supply chains and have had to slow production for now. Both sectors pulled back on hiring in April. And some businesses say they believe that a $300-a-week jobless benefit, paid for by the federal government, is discouraging some of the unemployed from taking new jobs.

Cortney Strohacker, DeKalb Chamber board member and executive director of the DeKalb County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, said that a steady stream of applicants visited booths throughout the event Tuesday.

“There really are people of all age groups applying,” she said. “I’ve heard people saying that nobody wants to work, but people have been excited at today’s event. They’ve been turning in multiple applications and meeting potential employers.”

Companies have added jobs for four straight months, the Labor Department said Friday, though the government lowered its estimate of job growth for February and March by a combined 78,000. April’s total is far below March’s gain of 770,000.

The resumption of hiring has encouraged some Americans to start looking for jobs, which means they are newly counted as unemployed if they don’t immediately find work. This is what happened in April, when the unemployment rate ticked up from 6% to 6.1%.

Employers are now posting far more jobs than they did before the pandemic, and “help wanted” signs dot many restaurant windows. Other telltale signs of labor shortages have emerged as well: Average hourly pay rose 0.7% in April to $30.17, which the government said suggests that the fast reopening of the economy “may have put upward pressure on wages.” The average workweek also rose, evidence that companies are asking their employees to work more.

Pulchratia Lacey, director of employment services in human resources at Northern Illinois University, hosted a booth at the job fair “to get the word out that NIU is hiring.”

“We’re a huge employer here in town, and events like this help broaden our net of applicants,” she said. “It’s also nice to talk to people in person.”

Lacey said she also helped answer questions a recent high school graduate had about the university.

“She was interested in a degree in acting, and I helped walk her through and fill out an application,” Lacey said. “So the job fair is more than just jobs, it’s about connecting people to the community.”

Sabrina Lockett of Cortland and her 18-year-old daughter Deneisha Perry attended the job fair together to look for Perry’s first-ever job.

“I’ve been looking online, but haven’t had much luck,” Perry said. “With [the COVID-19 pandemic], it’s been difficult to find a job.”

Lockett said that she liked the layout of the job fair, with applicants meeting and greeting their potential employees in person.

“I like that it’s old school, where you can talk and ask questions,” she said. “It makes applying for a job a little easier.”

Those interested in applying for jobs in the community can visit the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page, where they can find a list of businesses with open positions that attended the job fair.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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