About 50 job seekers attended a state-sponsored job fair over the weekend – compared with about 40 companies offering hundreds of positions.
“We just need bodies,” Smoker Craft Line Engineer Dave Thomas said, making his pitch outside Northside Gym, where WorkOne and The Elkhart Truth were hosting the event. “We have demand for about 50 boats a day, but we need the people.”
The New Paris-based maker of pontoon boats and other watercraft is offering $25 an hour plus a $30 per day bonus, “to put nuts and bolts together,” Thomas said.
Smoker Craft Human Resources Manager Christine Guzman said the company has 80 positions open. She thought the event may have helped fill seven.
Figures released Monday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development showed 3,412 people in Elkhart County were without jobs in April out of a total workforce of 113,500.
That’s an unemployment rate of 3 percent, down from a rate of 3.5 percent the previous month and 30.8 percent a year ago in April when the coronavirus pandemic forced shutdowns.
Some who attended the event Saturday already had jobs and were looking for something better. Others were looking for work outside manufacturing, which accounts for a major share of jobs in the county.
Click here to read the full report from Jon Gard in The Elkhart Truth. Note that a subscription is required.
