Unemployment increased in Bexar County, but experts say San Antonio’s health care, manufacturing and logistics sectors are still growing.

Bexar County’s unemployment rate grew slightly over the summer, rising from 3.8% in May and June to 4.4% in July.

Because of the 43-day federal government shutdown that ended on Thursday, there is little data available for the fall.

Many jobseekers in the city are sifting through the economic uncertainty and looking for stable, long-term career opportunities. This is what attracted Kyle Keilmann to a recent in-person recruiting event hosted by Goodwill.

“I need something to get into career-wise. If you’re not really years into something, it’s hard to get in, hard to get entry-level [positions],” Keilmann said at the Mega Job Fair in September. 

Some job hunters already have employment, but are worried about how an uncertain economy will affect their current positions. Claudia Hernandez attended the Red, White and You job fair Thursday put on by Workforce Solutions Alamo.

She has a job at Navistar, she said, but she wanted to be ready to pivot, just in case.

“Everything right now, anywhere you go, it’s not stable,” Hernandez said.

Carlos Contreras, president of Goodwill of San Antonio and chair of the Community Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said shifting federal policies, cuts to the government’s workforce and the impact of tariffs and immigration enforcement are all factors affecting the job market.

Jobseekers flocked to Port San Antonio and Workforce Solutions Alamo’s recent career fair at Tech Port’s Boeing Center on Thursday. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

“What we are seeing, it’s a mirror of what’s happening across the community,” Contreras said. “There’s an uptick of unemployment, there’s a slowing of job growth.”

He says that’s why many employers are in a “no-hire, but no-fire mode” as they wait to see what’s going to happen at the federal level.

Information Technology, or IT, jobs have been some of the hardest hit. According to the City of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Director, Mike Ramsey, jobs in the IT sector have declined by 3.5% compared to last year.

San Antonio is still growing, just not as quickly, experts say.

“As our region grows, more jobs are being added and filled, which has strengthened our workforce,” Ramsey said in an email.

Contreras said that while the economy may be slowing, it’s not in a recession. In other words, it’s not shrinking. Certain industries are still looking for workers.

San Antonio employers are hiring hundreds of workers

Richard Delgado Jr., Boeing’s senior community investor in San Antonio, was busy talking to jobseekers at Workforce Solutions Alamo’s veteran job fair this week.

The aerospace company, which operates a facility at Port San Antonio, has almost 400 open positions and is seeking mechanics and engineers.

“We have plenty of positions and the Boeing Company, we’re continuing to grow in San Antonio,” he said. “We tend to lean in and keep talent grown in San Antonio in San Antonio.”

Delgado said Boeing can look beyond the national economy because it sells planes to global customers. The company has long-term contracts it has to fill, he added.

Career fair attendees write down their contact information for potential employers at a hiring event on Thursday. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

Workforce Solutions Alamo’s CEO Adrian Lopez oversees the regional job network’s efforts to help people get hired. He said health care, manufacturing and construction jobs are still in high demand.

“There are definitely jobs that have been created year over year,” he said. “Those industries are still strong.”

Tony Carrizales, who works for Christus Health on hiring and talent acquisition in the region, said the health care provider is looking to fill patient-facing roles, like nurses and other medical positions, but is also hiring cafeteria workers and security officers.

“We haven’t slowed down at all, we’re continuing to expand,” Carrizales said. “Nothing has slowed down for us. If anything, it has intensified. We are getting a lot of people looking for administrative functions.”

In-person recruiting events were important for filling those roles, he added, surveying a job fair full of tables and resumes and bustling with hirers and inquirers. 

Recruiters say meeting someone face to face allows them to better understand a person.

Christus Health can teach job skills, Carrizales said, but can’t teach soft skills or cultural fit. “If they don’t fit our culture, their qualifications are almost irrelevant,” he said.

Trying to ignite the in-person spark

Would-be workers like Daniel Muñoz are also looking for that cultural fit at in-person events. Muñoz worked in data management and logistics, but was recently laid off.

It’s been 20 years since his last job search, he said.

“Everything seems to be over the internet,” he said, adding that he came to the in-person event on Thursday because “there’s more of a personal connection.”

Janelle Layden was looking for a similar connection at Goodwill’s career fair in September. She works as a caregiver, but had seen her hours reduced recently and wanted something more stable.

Layden said she had 140 applications out in September.

“Can I just get my foot in the door and show you who I am?” Layden said.

Dozens of recruiters met with jobseekers Thursday at Port San Antonio and Workforce Solutions Alamo’s job fair. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report

Workforce Solutions Alamo usually draws between 700 to 1,000 prospective employees to its Red, White and You job fair. This year, it moved the event to the Boeing Center at Port San Antonio and projected 1,200 to 1,500 attendees. Goodwill’s Mega Job Fair in September saw a similar boost in attendance. The event usually draws 300 to 500 people. This year’s had around 700.

Connecting people with opportunities

Contreras acknowledged that there can be gaps between roles that companies are hiring for and the qualifications of many applicants.

Workforce Solutions Alamo and Goodwill both have resources online and in-person career centers where people can get training or jobseeking assistance. They both collaborate with Ready to Work, the City of San Antonio’s employment program.

Resources include help with skill building, getting certifications or degrees in technical fields. Sometimes, though, simple resume and interview training do the trick, Lopez said. Some people just need a better opportunity to market themselves.

“People here in this region, they have a skillset,” Lopez said. “Let’s apply those skills and those competencies to those job applications.”