MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Need a job? The Development Authority for Milledgeville and Baldwin County says they have 1,000 jobs in town for the taking.
They say there's been a workforce shortage since the pandemic, but they're trying to make it easier for folks to find jobs.
And for some local business owners, the need for workers is there.
“College kids are — they're starting to come out, you know,” Miso Hawngry owner Amy McDade said.
With the college students returning, they need the extra help.
“We are definitely looking for kitchen help and I may need some help up front,” she said.
However, help is hard to come by. But McDade says that they are trying to make the process easy for prospective employees.
“It’s super easy. You can email us a resume, you can stop in and fill out an application, but the applications are not returned. So many businesses need help,” McDade explained. “Now hiring, short-staffed, and I just don’t know where the people are.”
Executive director of the development authority, Jonathon Jackson, says she's not alone.
“We’ve got a shortage of workers just like the rest of the nation,” he said.
Jackson says they are seeing more manufacturing jobs coming to the county. That's causing some issues finding enough workers.
“This boom in manufacturing that we’re experiencing has called up a need for more workers and we just don't have the workers right now," Jackson said.
The Middle Georgia Economic Alliances' solution is trying to make jobs easier to find.
“Many of the businesses hiring use Monster, Indeed, LinkedIn. So, this website aggregates this all into one location and you can search for whatever you're looking for,” Jackson explained.
The website is MGEAWorks.com. Go to the website, pick one out of 11 countries that have job listings in Central Georgia and put a specific keyword for the field you want to work in. Like, ‘medical’, ‘management’, or ‘administration’.
“There were 1,017 jobs open in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. Anything from remote, to part time, to full time work. It's all there,” he said.
Jackson says Georgia College and State University and the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce are working on a workforce readiness program to teach people what they need to know for their careers.
However, their efforts go beyond that.
“We're focusing on people who are looking for jobs who are either underemployed or just looking for new opportunities," Jackson said. "It's a good time to be a person looking for a job.”
Jackson says there are jobs for those with degrees or for those who don't have one and need entry positions.
They're even helping folks get to these jobs. He says they're working with Baldwin County’s Transit, and you can schedule a ride to work.
The website includes job listings in 10 additional Central Georgia counties, including Houston and Bibb.
Here’s a closer look at job numbers here in Central Georgia.
In July, the Georgia Department of Labor said the Macon area's jobless rate was 3.7% with about 3,700 people out of work.
The Warner Robins rate is just 3.1% and around 2,700 out of work. Georgia has about two job openings, for every person on the unemployment rolls.
That means if every Georgian getting unemployment right now was hired, the state would still have around 185,000 job vacancies.
That's according to a June report from the Federal Bureau of Labor statistics.
It says Georgia reflects the national worker shortage and the numbers show many more job openings than job seekers.
However, much of the state is still reporting some of its lowest unemployment rates ever.