Employers at job fair face hurdles to fill slots — fewer workers and low unemployment rate

About four dozen businesses and organizations seeking workers at a job fair this week in Hempfield are facing a double whammy as they attempt to woo prospective employees: The jobless rate is at a record low, and there are fewer people in the workforce since the covid pandemic upended the economy.

“This is a tight labor market. It (the unemployment rate) is lower than it has been in decades,” said Christopher Briem, a regional economist with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.

“Employers will have to find ways to recruit workers differently than in the past,” Briem said.

Because employees in many fields can work remotely, employers from all over are competing for the same pool of workers, and they need to be able to offer the wages companies based elsewhere can offer, Briem said.

Ernest DiMartino, owner of DiMartino Ice, a Jeannette company that makes ice and ice sculptures, said it has been challenging to find drivers, in part because some candidates have drug-related issues, legal and otherwise.

The pool of unemployed workers in Westmoreland County shrunk in the last year, to just 6,000 in December, compared to 7,300 in December 2022, according to state Department of Labor and Industry. The county’s jobless rate fell to 3.4% in December, which is 7/10ths of a percentage point lower than the 4.1% rate in December 2022.

The county’s jobless rate mirrors that of the Pittsburgh region, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties. The Pittsburgh area’s jobless rate is a record low, dating to January 1976, according to state numbers.

“We just don’t have enough workers,” DiMartino said.

He is working with PA Career Link, which connected him with immigrants from Colombia and Venezuela, who have been working for him for several months.

“If it wasn’t for them (Career Link), I don’t think I would be in business,” DiMartino said.

Other workers dropped out of the labor force during the pandemic, said Janice Albright, site administrator for PA Career Link at the Westmoreland County Community College near Youngwood. While the biggest factor may be the retirement of older workers, some two-income families also “found out they were able to survive on one salary by eliminating the cost of child care,” Albright said.

The good news is the labor force only shrunk by 1,500 workers from December 2022 to December 2023. Hopefully, the students who have graduated from college in the past three years will remain in the area to boost the labor market, Albright said.

DiMartino is pessimistic the county can keep the young adults in the area.

“We have an aging population, and the young people aren’t staying here,” DiMartino said.

With the shortage of workers, there is a critical need for the county to increase its population, especially since we have lost over 10,000 people since the last census, said Dan DeBone, president of the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce.

”A larger population not only ensures a more substantial pool of potential workers but also contributes to the overall economic vitality of Westmoreland County,” DeBone said.

Among the paths to increasing the county’s population is developing a robust marketing campaign showcasing Westmoreland County’s unique attributes, addressing the lack of housing by working with developers and offering incentives for first-time homebuyers, encouraging the growth of diverse industries and promoting active community participation in decision-making processes and creating a welcoming and vibrant atmosphere.

The county’s population and workforce could be increased by becoming more welcoming to immigrants, said DiMartino said. He noted that only 1.1% of the county’s population is Hispanic, compared to 7.5% in Franklin County in south central Pennsylvania.

“We lack minorities,” DiMartino said.