150 Windsorites lined up for chance to work at Dollarama

About 150 Windsorites looking to earn a few extra dollars lined up for a Dollarama job fair Thursday morning. 

Long lines at job fairs are becoming a familiar image these days in a city that has long struggled with very high unemployment rates.

"If you just go off how many people showed up for both [the Hiram Walker & Sons Ltd. and Dollarama job] fairs, it's pretty bad," said job-seeker Dawn Heggie in an interview with CBC News. "There are people that are desperate out there looking for work."

The Dollarama job fair ran from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in downtown Windsor. The dollar-store chain was looking for full- and part-time associates and managers for 13 Windsor-Essex area locations. 

Waiting in long lines

Heggie has been unemployed for a few months and went to the Hiram Walker job fair last month, but after waiting for two hours in line and being told it would be another two hours to actually apply she left.

Hiram Walker was looking to recruit staff for production operation positions. Interest for those jobs was quite high, as the starting wage was $19.86 per hour, rising to $30.55 over an eight-year period.

There was less interest in the Dollarama jobs, said Heggie. But there was still a long line-up for the start of the job fair around 9 a.m. this morning.

Windsor's unemployment rate in July was 8.7 per cent, down slightly from June when it was 8.9 per cent. Montreal now leads the country with an unemployment rate of 8.9 per cent.

Windsor's unemployment rate is almost two per cent higher than the national average, which was 6.8 per cent for the sixth consecutive month.

Despite the high unemployment rate and long lines at job fairs, Heggie is still pounding the pavement applying to jobs and is confident she will eventually get one.

"I still have hope," she said.