Apr 1, 2006 By Amanda Clegg 3 min read

A link connecting the unemployed with employers is coming to Fayette County, and county commissioners wish to see a chain reaction. Hoping the link provides opportunities for area residents, Commissioners Angela M. Zimmerlink and Vincent A. Vicites helped kick off the third annual Fayette CareerLink JOBS Expo on Friday morning during an information session for representatives from area businesses and institutes of higher education. The informational session was held at the Sun Porch restaurant in Hopwood.

The JOBS Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 4, at the Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus, Community Center.

Vicites urged business owners to make their voice heard to county youth in particular.

“Whatever jobs we create in this county, we need to make sure the young people know where those jobs lie,” he said. “It’s a team effort to make this transition take place.”

And county commissioners need to be a part of that effort, Vicites said.

“What we need to do on the front end as leaders of the community is make sure we are retaining jobs in the county,” he said, adding that the building of retail-commerce and high-tech parks “increased the employment base substantially in the last five years” for Fayette County.

Such growth, however, seems slow to provide the amount of jobs needed.

“There isn’t a week or day that goes by that I don’t get a call from someone needing a job,” Vicites said. “They need this type of transition service.”

The unemployment rate in the county dropped this month to 5.8 percent, he noted.

The state Department of Labor and Industry forecasts 60 percent job growth for certain industries in Fayette County through 2012. The department also forecasts new workers replacing retirees and unskilled jobs disappearing, according to Davida Cavallo, Penn State Fayette’s career services coordinator, who gave a PowerPoint presentation during the information session.

Cavallo said the JOBS Expo “helps connect college graduates, job seekers and high school students” to employment opportunities and allows them to “gain insight into the job market and meet with continuing education institutes.”

Those institutions slotted for the JOBS Expo include California University of Pennsylvania, Douglas Education Center, West Virginia Career Institute and Laurel Business Institute. Employers signed up include 84 Lumber, Target and the State Civil Service Commission.

Zimmerlink said she received “good feedback” from past JOBS Expo attendees about the event.

“It’s good to get positive feedback on the county as a whole,” she said. “With everyone working together, it brings Fayette County together.”

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For more information on the JOBS Expo, visit online at www.fcje.net.