Job Fair for Ex-Convicts Turns Into “Mad House”


Somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 people showed up at the Municipal Services Building this morning for a job fair catering to ex-criminal offenders. Unfortunately, the event quickly got out of hand, in part because people without criminal records were showing up too. Only 25 employers were there today. Last year, by contrast, 1,000 showed up, 435 of whom got jobs.

Said one job-seeker: “It was a mad house, unorganized, just mass confusion,” adding that “at one point the crowd just dispersed and ran towards the door.” Ultimately, police broke it up at 10:30 a.m., and very few managed to drop off their resumes. The city says it will reschedule the event, and hold it instead at the convention center. As if it wasn’t hard enough for ex-cons to find work. Today marked a drop in the state’s unemployment rate–to 7.6%–but roughly half a million Pennsylvanians remain out of work. [NBC 10]