Greater Haverhill job seekers will have the chance Friday to hear Secretary Ronald L. Walker II, Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD).
Walker is the speaker, opening Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce’s “Access To Jobs Fair.” About 50 employers, “who are hiring or are planning on hiring new employees in 2015,” will be on hand, according to a a chamber spokesperson.
The event, being held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, at Andover Wyndham, 123 Old River Road, Andover, comes on the heels of this week’s local jobs and unemployment report from EOLWD. It showed the local unemployment rate in March dropped by an average 0.4 percent and added as much as 244 jobs in Haverhill.
A report, however, from the National Employment Law Project says, “employment gains have been concentrated in lower-wage industries.” The 2014 report indicates:
- Lower-wage industries constituted 22 percent of recession losses, but 44 percent of recovery growth.
- Mid-wage industries constituted 37 percent of recession losses, but only 26 percent of recovery growth.
Higher-wage industries constituted 41 percent of recession losses, and 30 percent of recovery growth.
Ron Walker: During your speech please enlighten Massachusetts residents of JUST ONE job that was created in Massachusetts by your old boss Deval Patrick in the numerous economic junkets he took abroad on our dime.