MIAMI (WSVN) -- With the unemployment rate in South Florida rising, Miami Fire Rescue was inundated with hundreds of applications for only a few positions. Hector Mirabile, the director of employee relations at the City of Miami offered a harsh reality of the job application process. "There are 35 openings that we have," he said. "We will accept 750 qualified applications who will compete for those 35 positions."
The City of Miami accepted the applications on Monday morning from hundreds of job seekers, some of whom had waited outside since Saturday to apply. By noon, there were still people in line with no guarantee to be hired.
Fernando Figueroa is one of approximately a thousand people hoping for a chance to become a Miami firefighter. He stood amongst hundreds Sunday hoping to get a chance at employment. "I'm unemployed. I just got out of active duty for the Marines. I have a son. I have to pay the bills, and pretty much it's tough times," Figueroa said.
Over the weekend and into Monday morning, the line wrapped around an acre of land at Miami Riverside Center and first in line stood Alex Valdez. "It's hitting really hard. People are trying to survive and people are desperate," Valdez said.
Valdez said he endured an array of the elements as he waited a total of 50 hours to turn in his application. "It was freezing Saturday night, and it was raining last night, and then, during the day, it was hot," he said.
Travis Miller also camped out early to apply for the job. "I really love this job, and I'm basically wiling to do anything for it at this point," he said.
The unemployment rate in Florida is the highest it's been in 16 years. In Miami-Dade, the unemployment rate is at seven percent, and in Broward County just under seven percent. Both are up almost three percent since December 2007.
Poster Comment:
The people of our country need work. It is sad to see so many line up that want to work but they will not all be able to get that job. We need to look out for our own citizens. To help bring back jobs to this nation we must repeal legislation that encourages jobs to move overseas. Things like NAFTA and GATT. They need to go. We need scrap ALL international trade deals and start from the bottom up. This time doing it in a manner that benefits our people as a whole. Part of that would be tariffs on products coming into this nation. It is not wise to have slave labor enter our nation and displace our workers.
