Governor Richardson Job Expo Helping Southern New Mexicans Get Back To Work

Searching for an opportunity.

Southern New Mexico job seekers turned to Governor Bill Richardson Thursday for help getting back to work.

?We?re going to find people some jobs!? Richardson said, as he kicked off the Richardson Job Expo held at New Mexico State University.

Unemployed hopeful Frank Amalla says he has been jobless for the past two years. Amalla ran a Vietnam Veteran Center in Las Cruces but lost his job when the center relocated to Roswell.

?I have been unemployed since July of 2008,? Amalla said.

Amalla is just one among hundreds who came to the Pan-American Center looking for a means to a paycheck.

?I have no income right now, none whatsoever,? Amalla said.

Resumes in-hand, Amalla says, he?s been applying for job after job. But the past 2 years have only been filled with rejection.

?I?m right on the state of foreclosure now,? Amalla said. ?I?m been selling my own personal items that I cherished for so long.?

Amalla says being unemployed is emotionally grueling.

?I?ve had two heart attacks,? Amalla said.

With about 60 prospective employers looking to fill more than 900 positions, Governor Richardson says, the job expo is going to help the average southern New Mexican, like Amalla, get back to work.

?It?s a big population base, the jobless rates are a little high and we wanted to show Southern New Mexico we?re behind them,? Richardson said.

At 8.5% New Mexico?s unemployment rate is just behind the national average of 9.6%.

But Amalla says he is hoping to step away from the statistics toward a new career.

?I give myself the uplifting, ?something?s going to happen, something must happen.??

Amalla did not walk away with a job offer but says, like so many others, he?s keeping fingers crossed something will work out in the weeks ahead.