Mobile employment bus lands in Wilmington [video]

 (photo courtesy DE Dept. of Labor/Facebook)

(photo courtesy DE Dept. of Labor/Facebook)

While the regional economy may be improving, Delaware’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly stagnant. The state Department of Labor is rolling in to help out-of-work residents.

A 40-foot bus rolled into Wilmington’s Rodney Square Wednesday afternoon. The bus functions as a mobile Department of Labor office, helping the unemployed with their job searches.

Using one of the bus’s 10 computer work stations, Labor Department workers help residents build their resumes and enroll in work training sessions. Delaware Labor Secretary Patrice Gilliam-Johnson said the mobile unit travels throughout the state to reach the unemployed where they are.

“It’s really an opportunity for us to connect with the residents in the city to be able to give them any information that could be of assistance to them with regard to employment and job search opportunities,” Gilliam-Johnson said.

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Delaware’s unemployment rate stands at 4.8 percent, one half a percentage point above the national average.

Gov. John Carney, D- Delaware, has been meeting with employers throughout the state in the month of August. He toured the mobile employment bus and called it “a great tool.” 

“What I’ve learned is that there are a lot of employers over here looking for good employees, and I’ve also run into a lot of folks over here who are looking for a better job,” Carney said. “Our challenge and the challenge of the Department of Labor, using this tool, is to connect the two. The job seekers with the job wanters.”

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