Jobs

The House of Delegates has passed Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to create a grant process to help get people the skills for jobs that are in high demand. The House passed the bill 115 to 23 on Tuesday. The Senate already has approved the measure. It makes $2.5 million available for the Employment Advancement Now Initiative. The program will encourage regional training collaborations among businesses, nonprofits, colleges and local governments. It also will focus on industries such as traditional and advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and health care.

Two new government contracts won by AECOM Technology Corp. will preserve 420 jobs at Letterkenny Army Depot as the company begins to handle technical support services at the depot. The affected employees, who were working under an existing contract, will move to the contracts awarded by the U.S. General Services Administration to AECOM, a Letterkenny spokeswoman said. The two concurrent contracts total $72 million over three years, an AECOM news release stated. AECOM will work with production engineering, electronic support, manufacturing and fabrication, mechanical equipment, and paint.

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. will close its credit card center in Frederick by the end of the year, eliminating 600 jobs, the company said Thursday. Tim Keefe, spokesman for Chase, said the facility, which deals mainly with delinquent accounts, will be phased out beginning in the summer. He said the decision was based on diminishing delinquent account volumes and the need to increase efficiency. Keefe said that operations will be moved to other Chase locations.

With possible changes in the works for the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission, area residents recently offered advice about what they thought the EDC could do to bring jobs to the area. Bryan Martin of Hagerstown said the Hagerstown-Washington County area should be able to use its airport and highways as selling points to lure prospective businesses. “We've got an airport that is underrated and we're right at the intersection of two major highways (Interstate 70 and Interstate 81)

Chambersburg Mall was packed with people Thursday, but they weren't shopping for bargains - they were shopping for jobs. Even before the second annual Here to Help Job Fair opened at 9 a.m., hundreds of job seekers flooded into the mall in search of employment. “Jobs are something that excite me. Economic opportunity for people is what drives me,” said state Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Franklin/Adams/York, who hosted the event “Hearing all the stories about people who are struggling to make ends meet really breaks my heart,” he said.

Dr. Hal Butler wants to hire a receptionist for his Hagerstown dental practice. Thus far, more than 200 people have applied. John Kelly wants to hire five new workers for his Mount Airy, Md., sign company. He's got stacks of applications - some from people who, he said, are far overqualified. “It's heartbreaking, really,” Kelly said. “I've worked in large companies myself. Some of the resumes we're getting are people who should be in companies like that. But these people just need a job.” So it is in an economy where new job opportunities still are scarce and unemployment rates remain higher than before the recession.

Md. lawmakers approve natural gas surcharge bill ANNAPOLIS (AP) - Natural gas companies would be able to seek a surcharge of up to $2 on monthly gas bills to help recover costs for replacing aging infrastructure, in a measure approved by state lawmakers Thursday. The Senate voted 35-12 after spirited debate. The House of Delegates' vote was 120-17. The measures are similar and any differences will need to be worked out for the legislation to go to Gov. Martin O'Malley. Lawmakers who supported the bill said companies need the cash to help replace aging pipes and address safety concerns.

25 jobs left to fill About 30 Head Start positions have been filled, with another 25 still to go, according to Paul Pittman, executive director of Resources for Children and Families. Pittman said Resources for Children and Families has been interviewing job candidates since last week and plans to continue through early next week. Resources for Children and Families had 55 openings in mid-July. The Head Start school year begins on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Positions left to fill include teachers, teacher assistants, administrative assitants and bus drivers.

HAGERSTOWN karenh@herald-mail.com About 200 workers face the choice of losing their jobs or moving elsewhere as part of a restructuring plan that will eliminate about two-thirds of the positions at Hagerstown's Roadway Express terminal. "Everybody has a chance to follow the work, but whether you want to go, that's the big thing," truck driver Mike Mimnall said Tuesday. According to a reorganization plan that takes effect March 12, Hagerstown's East Oak Ridge Drive terminal, which employs about 292 people, will lose 196 positions, Teamsters Local 992 Secretary-Treasurer Tom W. Krause said.

marlob@herald-mail.com FUNKSTOWN - As an only child growing up in upstate New York, Natasha Arnall said she remembers rearranging and redecorating her room a lot. "I also drew pictures of rooms," she said, which perhaps explains why choosing interior design as a career seemed a natural fit to her. Arnall, 24, owns and operates Interiors of Maryland, which moved into quarters at 2 E. Baltimore St. here a few months ago. ...

Teachers and graduates exchanged hugs, high-fives and smiles on-stage Wednesday morning as more than 200 people celebrated the graduation of students from the Washington County Job Development Program and Marshall Street School. As each graduate was recognized, an administrator read a list of that person's accomplishments, including the jobs the graduate had at companies, schools and community organizations. “We have worked hard to reach our goals,” said graduate William McCrary IV, one of four student speakers during the ceremony at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Center.

One thing Ed Grimes hates about his current work schedule is trying to explain it to others. “It's confusing,” he said. Since being laid off in 2009 after nearly four decades at Hagerstown's Noland Company, the 61-year-old Funkstown man has been jockeying between jobs at two stores and one school or another around the county, while piecing things back together financially. Yet Grimes, like some other area victims of the recession, feels lucky to be working now, especially considering how tough the economy has been.

Unlike many Americans, Ruby Harley didn't lose work during the recession. In fact, the Inwood, W.Va., woman gained work - holding two jobs at the same time before the recession, three jobs simultaneously during the recession and two jobs now. Harley, 42, likes the life, working seven days a week or very long five-day weeks for years. “There's a saying I was told by my father,” Harley said. “The day you start slowing down is when everything - like, your health can go down - catches up to you. And so, I'm not slowing down.” Plus, having been divorced twice and raising two children, Ruby has needed the extra income.

Where one business has closed, another has opened. Scott Electric, a large wholesale electrical distributor and supply business based in Greensburg, Pa., opened a Hagerstown branch in the 18043 Oak Ridge Drive building long used by Flameless Heating Supply Inc. Scott, which was a supplier for Flameless until it closed last fall, now has five employees working out of the Hagerstown facility and wants to hire three more, said John Forish, general...

The Washington County government announced recently that its annual business and industry survey showed there had been a net gain of more than 440 jobs in the past year. But that isn't the whole story. Despite the increase in the county's January unemployment rate, the county said in an emailed news release on March 22, “the annual Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Business Industry Report confirmed an increase of 448 jobs within the County based on 2012 reporting data through March 22, 2013.” What the county didn't say is that almost all of that net gain was because of new jobs funded by taxpayers, according to an examination of the county's data by The Herald-Mail.

Labor leaders from across the state gathered in Hagerstown on Monday to remember workers who have been killed or injured on the job. The annual event, known as Workers Memorial Day, was attended by about 40 people at the Central Maryland AFL-CIO Labor Council building at 511 E. Franklin St. Chip Cook, president of the Central Maryland AFL-CIO Labor Council, said the gathering in Hagerstown was one of many remembrance ceremonies that were held...

Budget changes approved last week will allow nearly 100 contract workers who recently lost their jobs at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Tracing Center in Berkeley County, W.Va., to be rehired, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller's office announced Saturday. “The terrible tragedy in Boston reinforces that those who protect our country and respond to emergencies should be able to get the resources they need to do their jobs to the fullest,” Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a news release.

You can lose a job for many different reasons. Maybe it's because of job performance, decision-making, office politics or economic conditions. Or even a multitude of other factors. Regardless of the reason, losing a job can be a very stressful situation for a person desiring to get out of bed and contribute to his own livelihood. A few weeks ago, I went to work and - due to budgetary shortfalls with our federal government - witnessed the permanent layoff of 98 people at our government work site.  During my last nine years of employment there, I had the opportunity to come to know many of these people.

Kellan Bermudez has something in common with Superman: He also can fly. As a member of the Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars, Bermudez is known as the Human Cannonball, whose death-defying feat is to be shot out of a cannon. Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars will be at Review & Herald in Hagerstown Monday, April 29, and Tuesday, April 30. Bermudez was in North Carolina getting ready for two shows when he took a moment to chat about making a career out of being a cannonball and life in the circus.

Stephen Vanmeter of Greencastle, Pa., who will finish school at Hagerstown Community College this spring, went to the Mega Job Fair on campus Friday to look for a full-time job in the information technology field that he could work while pursuing his bachelor's degree. “I'm looking for anything around the area of PC, hardware, software, troubleshooting,” said Vanmeter, 26. “I was visiting First Data because they have a lot of IT jobs there.” More than 550 people showed up for the job fair at HCC's Athletic, Recreation, and Community Center.