November 10, 2011

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Hosts Jobs Event in Oakland

Contact Ricci Graham (510) 305-2954

Oakland – Congresswoman Barbara Lee hosted the “Good Jobs Now!” Jobs Fair at the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday, November 10, 2011.  More than 100 employers seeking to fill current job openings participated in the event, which also featured workshops on using the Internet to enhance job-seeking techniques and on-site resume review and critique.  Job seekers had the opportunity to meet directly with employers to discuss the more than 500 positions attempted to be filled at the jobs fair, the second Congresswoman Lee has hosted this year.

The “Good Jobs Now!” Jobs Fair represents a collaboration between Congresswoman Lee,  Assemblyman Sandre’ Swanson, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, Oakland City Council President Larry Reid, the Oakland Private Industry Council, the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, the City of Oakland Enterprise Zone, the Alameda County Labor Council, and the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO.

Congresswoman Lee offered the following statement to kick-off the event: “I would like to thank the community groups and local employers who have made this event possible today.  The jobs crisis is nothing short of a national emergency and that is why it is critical that Congress pass President Obama’s American Jobs Act which would invest in worker training programs, provide tax incentives to employers, and put workers back on the job while rebuilding and modernizing America.  The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Supporting unemployed Americans is critical and Congress must pass H.R. 589 – my bill to provide an additional fourteen weeks of relief to Americans whose have exhausted all their benefits and are now in desperate need. 

“There are those of us in Congress who still believe that we can indeed reignite the American Dream.  We are fighting to build ladders of opportunity and we are committed to tearing down the barriers that prevent progress.  So, while too many Americans are asking the Republican leadership, ‘where are the jobs?’ – I am happy to be here today with local leaders and businesses and I hope that we can provide a number of those jobs today at the Good Jobs Now! Jobs Fair.”

###

Follow Barbara Lee on Twitter @RepBarbaraLee