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 e-Newsletter
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About 300 area veterans were at the Peoria Civic Center Thursday for a job fair specifically catered to them. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program included 20 resource tables and 55 employers helping veterans and their spouses apply for jobs.
Marady Leary is the Director of Events for the national program. She says the job fair is beneficial for Peoria as the unemployment rate for veterans hovers around 13-percent in the city.
"But that number varies so much because that could just be the number of veterans that are actually at the IDES office who've enrolled in benefits. We're not sure of the people who are coming home or who've been home who haven't actually signd up for benefits yet. So my guess is that the estimate is much higher than that," says Leary.
Leary says the Hiring Our Heroes program will make stops at 400 locations this year. Caterpillar also announced its donating 100-thousand dollars to subsidize the cost of the job fair. Employers don’t have to pay a fee to participate in the event. |
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