The number of job postings for light manufacturing, health care and transportation positions remains high at the state Department of Labor’s CareerLink Alle-Kiski office.
This week, the center had 425 job openings, which is down slightly from last November, according to Phil Grove, an account representative at PA CareerLink Alle-Kiski.
The Alle-Kiski job center covers 28 ZIP codes in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.
“Employers are still doing things to attract workers such as offering higher pay,” Grove said. “Employers are desperately in need of new blood. In recent days, some scaled back production because of not having enough employees.”
Light manufacturing employees are still in high demand, and those companies are bumping up wages, he said.
In other job sectors, such as business administration and other white-collar jobs, there has been an influx of workers visiting CareerLink trying to find a better job, Grove said.
TruFood, in RIDC Park in O’Hara, has raised wages twice in the past 16 months, said Ashley Jones, a recruiter for the company.
TruFood, a privately held company, is a manufacturer of nutrition bars, protein bars, chocolate molded products and baked goods. The company has a workforce of about 700 employees.
TruFood has been hiring new employees and plans to hire about 50 more through the summer, Jones said.
The company’s director of commercialization, Gina Cottrill, said salary alone isn’t enough.
“We try to give our employees the best possible environment,” she said.
The wage increases helped recruit and retain employees for TruFood, the women said.
“We have a good culture with growth opportunities, and that is why people stay,” Jones said.
TruFood expanded operations to a new building earlier this year and opened two new production lines, Cottrill said.
The expansion has been spurred by an increasing demand for healthier snacks.
Sales have grown by 30% each year for the past three years, she said.
Information about jobs at TruFood are on its website.
