16K good paying jobs are unfilled in Memphis

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - There are thousands of jobs unfilled in the City of Memphis.

In fact, the WMC Action News 5 investigators discovered about 16,000 jobs are empty as of February 2, 2017.

"If I could have my dream job it would probably be working in the food industry," Meika Hall, a Memphis mother looking for work, said. "I would love to get a career where I can work with other people and do it on a daily basis."

Fortunately for Meika Hall and other job seekers, there are thousands of openings in all kinds of fields--from business and financial opportunities to service, sales, construction, and transportation.

"These are good high paying jobs that we at the Greater Memphis Chamber work to recruit daily," Earnest Strickland, of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said.

Of the 16,049 jobs currently available, only 1,100 of them are unskilled positions. The remaining 14,949 jobs have an average pay of $45,900.

Forty-four percent of those jobs pay between $57,856-76,596. That's 6,699 excellent paying jobs.

"Just as people are looking for jobs there are jobs looking for people," Strickland said.

Training and transportation are two obstacles job seekers are having a tough time overcoming.

Those two issues are expected to come up at Memphis City Council next week.

Right now you can search through all of the open jobs using an app created specifically by the Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce and promoted by the Greater Memphis Chamber.

It's called Memphis Works, and it lists all the jobs, where they're at, how much they pay, and more. The app even lets you watch videos about the jobs and apply for them.

Click here to learn about the Memphis Works app or download it to your Apple device here -- or to your Android device here.

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