More than 1,600 job seekers showed up for a job fair in Albany yesterday, reports Eric Anderson at the Times Union. According to Anderson, there were 1,200 positions on offer:
Many of the participants were the region's major employers. "We're meeting a lot of people that we thought would be a good fit," said Matthew Skrocki of General Electric Co., who was recruiting for jobs at the turbine plant in downtown Schenectady. The company recently added 30 people and is seeking to hire more, he said. Next door, GE was recruiting for its new battery plant that will eventually employ 300 people on the Schenectady campus. And across the way was GlobalFoundries, the semiconductor manufacturer building a $4.6 billion plant in Malta. "We're happy to be here," said one recruiter. "People are starting to get an idea of what it is. It's a big game changer for the area."
Unemployment
That fair came just as papers around the region were starting to process March unemployment numbers. In Buffalo, David Robinson reports at the Buffalo News that the area picked up 2,500 jobs over the previous year. Rochester also picked up jobs - about 4,400 - over the previous year, reports Velvet Spicer at the Rochester Business Journal.
Brain drain
Binghamton University Forum held a conversation about brain drain yesterday, looking at how to keep young people in rural areas. Jennifer Micale reports for the Press & Sun-Bulletin that panelists identified one solution - changing perceptions:
"Kids growing up in these areas are often told the local economy is dismal," [panelist John] Sipple [director of New York State Center for Rural Schools] said. To remedy the situation, the flow of information needs to increase between schools and employers so young people have a better sense of the job opportunities available to them within their region, panelists said. The majority of recent high school graduates interviewed for a study on residential expectations anticipated living outside of the region, Ph.D. student Scott Sanders said. Almost half of the college-bound students described the local economy as "poor" or "awful."
And in case you missed it, the Innovation Trail also recently wrapped up a series about brain drain in upstate New York. You can read and listen to our stories here, and listen to our Innovation Conversation: Will You Stay or Will You Go? here.
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