Local job seekers remain skeptical despite the lowest national unemployment rate in years and a turnout of 32 local employers looking for workers at Friday’s job fair.

The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and WorkPlus One-Stop Center held another job fair after the success of May’s event, but for the first time, it was held in western Clark County.

“Our goal was to help with employers in western Clark County and draw the unemployed from places like New Carlisle, Huber Heights and Donnelsville,” said Lehan Peters, deputy director of Job and Family Services of Clark County and WorkPlus. “The employers we’re talking to are seeing an increase in production on business.”

But applicants such as John Pearson say the growth isn’t enough to accommodate everyone without a job.

“It’s just the sheer amount of people I have competition with,” said Pearson, a New Carlisle resident who has been looking for a job for eight months since being laid off from a call center.

“It just seems like there are not enough jobs for the amount of people looking,” he said. “That’s what I deal with all the time.”

Employers came with openings, but only 67 people attended the fair, compared to around 700 people in May’s fair in Springfield.

“I’m disappointed but not discouraged,” said Scott Griffith, president of the region’s Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken franchises and leader of the new Western Clark County Business Coalition. “There are a lot of jobs that need to be filled, so even if one employer got one person to interview, it was worth it. People were interviewed and some will be hired from today.”

Clark and Champaign counties’ unemployment rates have been below 8 percent since March, and national unemployment dropped to 7.8 percent in September. This is the first time the national unemployment rate has been below 8 percent in about 4 years.

“There’s always an active market for jobs,” said Amy Donahoe, director of hiring and employer services for the chamber. “Between the unemployed and the underemployed, there are a lot of opportunities.”

The Springfield News-Sun spoke with 10 local job seekers who all felt some apprehension about finding a job.

Tim Brown, from New Carlisle, has been looking for a job for a month since he was laid off from a local car dealership. Several years ago he experienced the same issue when a recession hit and he was laid off from a GM dealership and got a bachelor’s degree to find a job.

“In the last three to four weeks, I’ve applied to as many as 20 different jobs,” Brown said “I’m probably a little nervous at this time.”

Other job seekers said they believe their age, their status as a single parent or education prevented them from finding a job.

Employers, meanwhile, say they have trouble finding the right candidates to fill openings.

Manufacturers such as FAB Metals have run into this skills gap recently.

FAB Metals — which manufactures lasers and computing machinery and which is about to expand into powder coating — has 22 employees but is looking to hire about six more. Vice president of operations Cynthia Hensley said it’s hard to find qualified candidates who have both the trade skills and the everyday employment skills, such as getting to work on time.

“We have some training in house,” Hensley said. “But we just want someone that exhibits the desire to work with us and we will work with them.”

Myra Starr, who works in human resources for Champion Company, agreed.

“We are very busy right now, and we don’t have a lot of time besides doing the normal training when you first get a job,” Starr said.

Champion, which manufactures shipping and storage containers in Springfield, has more than 80 employees and is looking for 10 more in anything from welding to customer service and sales.

Although finding the right candidate is difficult, Starr said job fairs help maximize an employer’s chances.

“We get a lot of diversity,” she said. “People come to job fairs because there’s multiple employers, and they can advertise all their skills.”