CALDWELL, Texas — The Brazos Valley Workforce Solutions and the Burleson County Chamber of Commerce partnered to host a youth job fair Thursday at the Caldwell Civic Center — an opportunity for local businesses to solve its employee shortage problem.
- Long-time construction and energy company, Evers & Sons, Inc. is facing a employee shortage due to a declining industry.
- There are 384,000 job openings in construction nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Now, the company is attending a youth job fair to attract and educate students from local school district about the industry.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Local organizations are inviting students to Burleson County's first youth job fair.
But the fair means much more to local employers.
Felicia Muzny and Casey Best work for Evers & Sons, a construction company with 40 years of history.
But a declining workforce.
"There's just a slow decline in the construction industry. Think a lot of kids are going towards tech," Muzny said.
There's over three hundred thousand positions open nationally.
To blame — the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, it's reaching other industries.
"Traditionally, Burleson county, when you look at the grand scheme, their unemployment is a little higher than most places. The last statistic I saw they had about 164 job openings," Deidra Simmons, the business services manager for Workforce Solutions of the Brazos Valley, said.
Muzny and Best tell me they're using the fair to educate students.
"I think that that's our goal is to get feedback from these kids as well so that we can meet them in the middle and develop a career for them," Muzny said.
Sophomores like Luysa Sanchez who are willing to try anything.
"There's a lot of things I want to do in the future, and I want to have as much experience as I can to get that job, and I also really just like helping out," Sanchez said.
If you or your kids are looking for work, you can contact the Workforce Solutions of the Brazos Valley for a list of all openings.
