Pocono News Section

Help finding jobs in 2009

Help finding jobs in 2009 - Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 3:45PM EST

Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 @ 03:45pm EST

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- The number of people unemployed in this country last year hit its highest number in a decade. Job loss didn't skip over our area, and it's not getting much better this month. One resource is in place to help and is quite busy these days. It was a packed house at the Pennsylvania Career Link center in Wilkes-Barre Thursday. People like Daniel Smith say it's the place to be to get a job. "Even though I'm retired I still have to think about, you know, I still have children, so you still need a different income coming in, so when they go to college you'll be able to take care of those things," says Smith. And career link hopes to help in Smith's situation.

With a down sliding economy and high unemployment rate, the traffic flow has changed at Career Link Wilkes-Barre. Site administrator William Dunn says, "We're seeing a lot more white collar workers as well as, it used to be just the manufacturing. But now we're seeing all aspects of our society touched by this unemployment."

There are a lot of people coming through the doors of the Career Link center, about 850 a month. That number is up from years past. Right now people here are applying for jobs in social security administration and the U. S. census bureau. Nikki Burdulis of Wilkes-Barre is hoping she'll get hired. "There's good benefits, it's a good salary. I'm still young and want to go back to school so a job will make it possible for me," says Burdulis.

Dunn says about 350 jobs will open in Luzerne County soon. He says the Lowes distribution center in Pittston plans to hire. It's one of many jobs career link hopes to fill in 2009. Career link does much more than just job application services. Visit it’s website for a center near you. The website is