The Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation hosted its 10th annual job fair at Central Baptist Church on Aug. 25.

Organizers said 80 people showed up within the first 15 minutes and expected this year’s turnout to top last year’s 220 people. Many employers present were giving job seekers a chance to talk directly with the people doing the hiring.

“Our industrial park’s filling up, so our business economy is really very, very solid,” said Nathan Jones, vice chairman of the Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation. “We’ve seen some new industries come from out of state and have new employers from Canada. So, we see the Texas business climate as being very positive, and we see several hundred new jobs being created in our area in the next several years.”

Elizabeth Parker was one of those people looking for a job.

“You can be overqualified and still not get the job, and I’ve had that issue so many times,” she said.

Parker said she also dealt with personal struggles, making it much harder to get a job.

“I mean, not just for me, I’m pretty sure everybody that’s here has had some kind of struggle in looking for a job or even gaining that job, not even looking for it,” said Parker.

Kelly Tamlin, a business development manager for Elwood Staffing, was there to help job seekers connect with employers.

“You know, there’s a big misnomer that people don’t want to work anymore. I mean, you can look around and see that’s absolutely not true,” said Tamlin.

She helps veterans, people who are aging out or people with criminal backgrounds who have turned their lives around.

“So, I know that skilled trades are the number one thing that employers are looking for. We encourage all of the high school kids to pursue your trades. There’s great job security there,” Tamlin said.

New numbers from the Texas Workforce Commission show Cherokee County’s unemployment rate has steadily grown in the last few months, but is still low compared to other East Texas Counties.

Organizers say the growing turnout shows there are still people looking for a job— and employers looking for them.