Tynisha Jones, left, and her sister Lakita Jones talk to Walgreens East Ridge store manager Mike Tallman at a Job Fair at Chattanooga State on Thursday. The sisters are both sophomores at Chattanooga State.Tim Jennings has a problem few employers have had since the recession hit -- he has more jobs than he can fill.
Metro Boiler Tube Co. had to slash its workforce by about 40 percent a few years back. Now the company is in full-on growth mode, and Jennings can't find enough welders to fill the Ringgold plant's three shifts.
"It's a dying breed. There's a lot of people getting ready to retire and there's not enough people coming up," the company's human resources director said. "It's dirty and hot, but it's steady and it pays well."
Metropolitan Chattanooga added 3,990 jobs in the past year from January 2011 to January 2012, according to state employment numbers released Thursday. The metro area jobless rate fell from 9.1 percent a year ago to 7.8 percent in January 2012.
Jennings was one of 79 area employers searching for workers at Chattanooga State Community College's jobs fair Thursday, a far better showing than the 60 at last year's job fair.
"There's some great, great jobs out here," said Tynisha Jones, a Chattanooga State sophomore looking for jobs with her sister.
Jones is studying pharmacy and got leads on possible internships from the fair. She was one of about 950 students and area residents walking the aisles of hiring companies.
"Now it's all about the guy upstairs and me handing out these resumes," said Phillip Jackson as he picked up employment applications.
The Chattanooga native already works a wastewater management job while he studies communications at Chattanooga State, but he was looking for something that could offer better pay.
The economy is looking up, he said, freeing him to look for the job he wants rather than desperately cling to the job he already has.
Some businesses at the job fair were searching to replace employees who had done what Jackson was looking to do. For example, Blood Assurance was hoping to fill as many as five openings created after employees left for other work or to go to school.
But even more employers seemed to have new or returning job openings. Larry Morrison expects he'll hire as many as 35 apprentices for the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters in the next few months.
The group relies on dues, so unless he can all but guarantee new workers jobs, he doesn't train them. His industry took a hit during the recession, he said, but he's been seeing plenty of growth lately.
"We've been able to add at least a third of our numbers," Morrison said. "It's been a lucrative day for us."