WGNO

Jobs available for unemployed folks with help from Job 1

NEW ORLEANS– In these struggling times, many folks in New Orleans are unemployed, but as WGNO’s Kenny Lopez found out there are thousands of jobs available and the City of New Orleans has a program to help job seekers out.

At Job 1 their priority is to connect job seekers to employers through training and resources.


“We have about one thousand jobs in our system right now, and the average pay is a livable wage, which is $11.19,” Sunae Villavaso, Director of The Mayor’s office of Workforce Development said.

At a roundtable discussion held today at Job 1 today, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said 44-thousand folks are unemployed in New Orleans and it is time they land a good job.

“We want our people to take advantage of the jobs that are available because they are here,” Mayor Cantrell said.

The hardest hit employees are the ones who worked in the hospitality industry, who now because of Covid-19 must pivot their skills into a new field which could eventually earn them $50,000 a year.

“Some of the industries we are focusing on are healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, digital media, and logistics,” Villavaso said.

Since 2018, Job 1 has revamped itself to provide the best services for job seekers.

“We’ve undergone a quarter of a million dollar transformation, making sure to meet people where they are. It is our obligation to reattach them to employment, high wages, in a high demand field that is sustainable and resilent,” Villavaso said.

For more information on Job 1, you can call 504-504-658-4500 or click HERE.