Covina jobs summit for potential employers

A Los Angeles County agency hosted a jobs summit Tuesday at a hotel in Covina. The meeting wasn’t for job seekers, but for businesses and non-profits that would gladly hire new workers … if they could only afford to pay them.

Representatives of about 40 enterprises sat in a meeting room to hear Dustin Stevenson of the South Bay Workforce Investment Board say what he’s told for months to any potential employer in LA County who’ll listen: that Los Angeles County has $160 million in federal economic stimulus money to subsidize transitional entry-level jobs for 10,000 people.

So far, Stevenson and his colleagues are halfway to their goal.

"We’re gonna pay their wages, we’re gonna pay the taxes, workers compensation liability, we’ll even pay the cost of hiring - like background checks and things like that," Stevenson explained to the intrigued entrepreneurs.

The program is scheduled to end in late September. Of course, Los Angeles County hopes that once it’s over, the employers will be able to permanently hire the temporary workers.

Danny Wechsler took a lot of notes. He is the assistant general manager of the Quality Inn and Suites Hotel in Walnut.

He says the economy has hurt his industry, and he’s had to cut back the hours of his 20 employees to stay open.

But he could use five or 10 workers somebody else is paying to help him focus on renovations.

"Everyone needs a job," he said, expressing a hope that his hotel's outlook might improve. "The more workers we have the more productive we can be, the better service we can offer our guests."

Eloise Love attended the summit to represent a La Verne-based networking organization for small businesses and independent contractors.

"I am starting to feel a little bit better just because it seems like everything has bottomed out," she said of the economy. "So the only way to go is up from here, so I’m really hopeful about that.

She said her company is looking to expand and could use up to 5 additional employees to help with the extra paperwork. The federally subsidized jobs program could help her company through the uncertain early stages of expansion.