The Valley Is Hiring

For those seeking employment, the LA County Office of Education is holding a Valley Hiring Spree job fair at the Balboa Sports Center in Encino this Wednesday, October 12. The event is free for both job seekers and employers.

The fair is being held in collaboration with Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and District 12 Councilman Mitchell Englander. Employers in the industries of government, healthcare, insurance/financial services, manufacturing, non-profit, retail, restaurant, radio/television and communications, mortuary services, education and security are slated to attend.

The fair arrives at a propitious time. With the city's unemployment rate hovering just shy of 14 percent, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a town hall meeting Thursday that he is not waiting for politicians in Washington to create jobs, according to the City News Service.

Instead, the mayor said he is focusing on ways to make Los Angeles more business friendly, to partner with the private sector, and advance job-creating projects at LAX and the Port of Los Angeles. 

Villaraigosa also announced the launch of a new website, www.LocateLA.org, to help businesses find office or manufacturing space in the city and find tax and other incentives to reduce the cost of working in the city of Los Angeles.

- City News Service contributed to this report.