The Magic Valley Has Over 1,000 Job Openings

TWIN FALLS, Id ( KMVT-TV / KSVT-TV ) The Magic Valley is experiencing a hiring frenzy as new businesses continue to filter in and those new businesses means more jobs.

According to the website Help Wanted Online, there are just over 1,200 jobs posted in Twin Falls.

The Department of Labor lists nearly 900 unemployed workers in town, so that gap means there are more jobs than workers to work them.

If you drive down Blue Lakes you will see at least ten now hiring signs, businesses like McDonalds, Rocket Express and Target.

Some businesses are finding it hard to fill those positions.

With more jobs comes more opportunities to grow.

"We have such a nice cluster going on in our area; manufacturing, research and development, agriculture and a lot of those things that play off one another and supporting, including the business and professional services, so it's a pretty exciting time to be here,” said Jan Roeser with the Idaho department of Labor.

Exciting for people searching for jobs.

"The city has seen quite a bit of growth in the healthcare and retail, accommodations, restaurants, kind of across the board basically,” said Roeser.

"We have quite a few openings here at the hospital. We're looking for great qualified employees; we look all over across the region, across the nation and locally of course. If we could have those folks come locally, that would be the best,” said Samantha Lopez with St. Luke’s human resources.

The national unemployment rate is 5.1%, Idaho down to 4.9%, but Twin Falls as low as 3.6% and with businesses like C3, one of the largest employers in the Magic Valley, it will be hiring more than 100 people by the end of the year.

"We do have more positions available than we have applications. In the current employment market it has gotten more and more difficult to find qualified candidates and so we have cast our net wider,” said Lopez

"If you raise wages, you attract more workers and certainly you have to gear up for housing, you have to gear up for all the infrastructure that supports that growth,” said Roeser.

"Twin Falls is a wonderful community, we really have had the advantage of having a number of new companies join our area, they have impacted the work force, they're bringing more and more people here and that of course increases the need for healthcare,” said Lopez.

As the largest private employer in Twin Falls, St. Luke's will continue to hire eligible workers as the city grows.