Hundreds Of Laid-off Casino Workers Attend Job Fair In Atlantic City
By Cleve Bryan
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., (CBS) -- More than one thousand job-seekers attended a career fair at the Atlantic City Convention Center on Wednesday that was geared toward laid-off casino workers.
With the closure of possibly five casinos this year, more than 10,000 workers will or have faced layoffs.
In the 10 days following the closure of the Revel and Showboat almost 2,000 former employees filed for unemployment according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The Department organized the job fair which included about 60 employees with a total of 1,500 job openings.
Officials say the scope of the casino layoffs presents one of the biggest challenges they've ever faced and requires a multi-layered response.
"We put everything we had into this from working with the Resource Center and making sure we had our 40 people here from day one. We had our rapid response teams in the casinos before they actually closed. We were as prepared as possible for this," said Labor Commissioner Harold Wirths at the job fair.
Among the employers were Sysco Corporation, Richard Stockton College, PNC Bank and Prudential Financial, Lund's Fisheries, Nitto Denko, Providence Pediatric Medical Daycare and Utilitquest.
There were also casinos and resorts looking for employees including the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the Golden Nugget, FantaSea Resorts and Star Light Events.
"I'm excited, people coming to you and hopefully someone will like my resume and I'll get a job," says Valerie Irelan who was laid off from the Revel.
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