Despite low unemployment rate, applicants flock to Hempfield job fair

“It’s really nice,” said Anna McClain, a 20-year-old Seton Hill University student looking for a summer internship. “There’s a lot of nice opportunities out here, not just for internships but for job seekers. I think that’s really nice for people out in the Greensburg area.”

But a low unemployment rate has left some recruiters scrambling so far this hiring season. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania was 4.5% in December, compared with a national unemployment rate of 3.6% in January. That number jumped to 4.8% in Westmoreland County and 4.2% in Allegheny, data show.

“It has killed us. … I started recruiting as my position four and a half years ago, the unemployment rate was a few percentages higher back then and I would go to events and have to fight people off,” said Stephanie Vespi, Pittsburgh regional recruiter for ChildCare Careers.

When she attended past career fairs, Vespi noted she would receive resumes from 20 to 30 applicants. Now, she said she’s lucky if she receives two or three applicants — despite having about 50 open positions.

Gretchen Westly, a talent acquisition partner for Lowe’s, said, “It is a job seeker’s market right now, especially with Home Depot and Target really kind of dominating the retail world with pay. They’re starting at $13 an hour, so really just trying to work on our recruitment techniques. But absolutely, it’s been a struggle lately.”

Westly said Lowe’s pay starts at just under $13, but added the company offers other benefits such as vacation time and bonuses to try and encourage job seekers.

Increasing the federal minimum wage has been at the head of the conversation, specifically among Democratic presidential candidates such as front-runner Bernie Sanders, who is pushing for a $15-per-hour minimum wage. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 has not increased since 2009, though 21 states have set higher minimum wages.

In Pennsylvania, legislation to raise the minimum wage passed the Senate in November, the Associated Press reported. The bill would raise the minimum wage to $9.50, in four steps, by 2022.

“I think a living wage would be better because society would benefit from that,” said Michael Connell, a 21-year-old senior at Seton Hill. “More people would have a little bit extra spending money. I think, overall, it would just benefit all of society as a whole.”

According to a November report from the Brookings Institution, 30% of low-wage workers — or about 16 million people — live in families earning below 150% of the poverty line. People who fall in that 30% live on about $30,000 for a family of three and $36,000 for a family of four.

The analysis found that 53 million workers between 18 and 64, or 44% of all workers, earn barely enough to live on, typically earning $10.22 per hour, or $18,000 per year. Of that, less than half of low-wage workers between 18 and 24 are in school or have a college degree.

For Alexis Pargas, a 22-year-old senior at Seton Hill who is preparing to start an MBA program at the school, raising the minimum wage would benefit those in the area, but she added that she would have to do more research to decide whether $15-per-hour was the best option.

“I just hope it doesn’t drive up prices in other areas,” McClain said. “So I think the $15 would be helpful, but the consequences could be different.”

As for recruiters, Vespi said combating the changing unemployment rate and uncertainty of the minimum wage means changing recruiting tactics. Job seekers today are more responsive to online recruitment opportunities such as through the job search engine Indeed, she said.

“We just have to be a little bit more creative,” she said. “We have to go out and grab people.”