Page 50 - SKILLS - 2023

MAKING YOUR CAREER WORK
You Can Still Get a Job:
Resources to Help Job Seekers with Employment Barriers
BY STACEY PFEFFER
This blind Westchester resident is employed as a job developer for other blind people.
In the aftermath of COVID, Westchester County has seen a historically
low unemployment rate — 3.4% at the beginning of 2023. But for job candidates with a disability or those who were previously incarcerated, the unemployment rate skews much higher.
In New York, there are one million working-age adults with a disability, yet only 33% are employed. Formerly incarcerated individuals also have a much higher-than-average unemployment rate of 27%, according to a State of the Workforce Report conducted by the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYAETP).
“With theoretically record low unemployment rates, employers have realized there is a great untapped labor pool of job candidates from these populations,” explains Thom Kleiner, executive director of the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Development Board. Kleiner, along with Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons and several nonprofits and employers, recently held two Diverse Abilities Job Fairs, with another planned for this summer to help secure jobs for those with disabilities. Hundreds of job candidates had a chance to meet with employers such as Amazon, New York Power Authority, MHA Westchester, Liberty Lines, Northwell Health, MTA, and NYS Thruway Authority. Several found jobs.
48 2023 SKILLS What’s Hot. What’s Next. What’s Needed.
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