As the State of California rolls out a dismal budget plan this week, there is some good news in the local economy, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, announced today that Los Angeles County is almost one-third of the way towards meeting its goal of employing at least 10,000 people in temporary local jobs.

A total of 3,068 people have been employed as part of the 10,000 Jobs Initiative, so far. Of this number, 75% are young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Over 328 businesses across the County have employed these individuals, including the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

County officials have expressed confidence that the goal of placing 10,000 people in jobs could be met if not exceeded by the end of the summer. "We have made good progress so far," said Supervisor Knabe. "I am particularly pleased with how many job opportunities we have been able to provide young people."

On March 3, Supervisor Knabe introduced the program, which would utilize almost $200 million in federal stimulus funding to create temporary subsidized employment opportunities in County departments, private sector employers, non-profit organizations, and in cities across Los Angeles County.

The 3,000 mark is an important milestone in the program because it exceeds the number of jobs that had hoped to be filled since the program officially began on July 1, 2009. At this pace, program organizers hope to have all 10,000 jobs filled by the end of the summer.

We want to have these jobs filled quickly in order to give participants as much on-the-job experience and training as possible, said Supervisor Knabe. The federal stimulus money we are using expires in September 2010, so we want these temporary workers to have the maximum amount of time in their jobs.

Two resources are available for employers looking to hire workers or for those looking for a job. The first is the County’s telephone hotline, 211. The second is a dedicated website, www.employmentstimulus.org