Job, education fair to be held at Yuma Civic Center
Several of Yuma County’s workforce development agencies are teaming up for the fifth year to produce an end-of-summer job fair featuring more than 100 employers and educational centers in an effort to help draw down the area’s high unemployment rates.
The Yuma Community Job and Education Fair will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, at the Yuma Civic Center, 1440 W. Desert Hills Drive, an event which draws up to 2,000 people hoping to connect with a company or campus to help them get ahead.
Patrick Goetz, business services officer for Arizona@Work’s offices in Yuma County, said registrations for exhibitors are full, and most of the companies are the same from last year, so the biggest change is a subtle shift in the name.
Last year it was promoted as an “expo,” which Goetz said might have been a factor in the lowerthan-expected turnout for agricultural workers, who are given their own wing at the Civic Center to meet with labor contractors. In 2016 about 200 showed up, when the norm was 600 to 800.
“Because the name of the event was changed from a fair to an expo, we think there may have been some misrepresentation or misconception that it wasn’t a job fair, it was an expo. So this year they went back to the community job and education fair,” Goetz said. “And we do have several agricultural companies that are going to be there, so we’re hoping for a good turnout.”
If the trend continues, Arizona@ Work and other workforce development agencies may have to look at a broader drop in availability of farm laborers. “The employers were kind of like ‘wow, we usually have a quite large group of people, and last year that didn’t happen.
“So this will be kind of a litmus test to see, put the name back where it was and hopefully we’ll have some good turnout.”
The companies renting booths for the job fair are hiring, he said, with several expected to conduct interviews on the spot, in a special area set aside for them. Many of them do require job-seekers to submit online applications, so there will be a resource center with computers for attendees.
Achieve Human Services and partnering agencies will also host its 7th Annual DREAM Job Fair for people with disabilities as part of the larger job fair, to mark Disability and Rehabilitation Employment Awareness Month.
Yuma County’s unemployment has been consistently higher than average for many years, probably a reflection of the seasonal workforce, but there is debate about whether it accurately reflects the local economy.
According to the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate for Yuma County was was 23.8 percent, third-highest in the nation and just below that of neighboring Imperial County in California, which is typical. The lowest recorded so far this year was 12.8 percent in March, near the end of the tourist season.
Job seekers wishing to attend the Job & Education Fair can preregister at https://goo.gl/uCbTkk and will be able to use the express line for quicker access to this event.
For more information job seekers can call one of the 15 agencies co-sponsoring this event:
• Achieve Human Services 928341-0335
• Adult Literacy Plus (ALPS) 928343-9363
• Arizona Western College, Career Services, 928-344-7605
• ARIZONA@WORK (Employment Service/Veteran Services), 928-247-8740
• ARIZONA@WORK (RSA/Vocational Rehabilitation), 928-247-8880
• ARIZONA@WORK (YPIC) 928329-0990
• Housing Authority of the City of Yuma (HACY), 928-782-3823 X 130
• Goodwill of Central & Northern Arizona, 928-343-7600
• Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp. (GYEDC), 928-7827774 • Linkages, 520-209-2603 • Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), Career Resource Center, 928-269-5181
• Portable Practical Education Preparation (PPEP), 928-627-3203
• Quechan Workforce Development, 760-572-2314
• Southwest Technical Education District of Yuma (S.T.E.D.Y), 928-366-5903
• U.S. Army Garrison, Yuma Proving Ground, Workforce Development, 928-328-2167