GADSDEN — The latest national and state unemployment numbers show an increase in job opportunities around the United States and right here in Alabama.

According to the latest statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate is at its lowest in four years (7.5 percent); in Alabama, the percentage is at 7.2 percent. Cherokee County's rate is even lower, at 6.4 percent, down from 7.2 percent a year ago.

But word of the best job market since December 2008 is not good news for everyone. In fact, the vice president of Operations for one area job placement agency told The Post his task only gets harder as the labor market improves.

“Our business is to find employees for different corporations, and they hire us to do that because we take care of taxes, worker's compensation, salaries,” said Camilo Martinez of Personnel Staffing, Inc. in Gadsden.

Martinez's applicants go to work for a company that has contracted with PSI for a pre-set amount of time.

“It may be three months, six months, nine months, depending on the agreement we have,” Martinez said. “After that amount of time, the employee can apply for a permanent position with the company.”

Contrary to popular belief, employees placed by PSI do not lose a portion of their salaries to PSI. Rather, PSI is paid by the company that hires them to fill open jobs.

Often, there are more positions available than Martinez has able bodies to fill them with—particularly these days in automotive manufacturing in Cherokee County.

Martinez said a shortage of people to send to assignments—and hopefully on to full-time employment—has him and his staff reaching out in ways they seldom have before.

“We go local, advertise in every paper we can find,” he said. “We have been going to high schools to get in touch with seniors who are about to graduate but are not planning to go to college.”

Another problem Martinez runs into involves applicants' abilities to meet simple minimum qualifications. He said when the unemployment rate is, for example, 7 percent, the number of potential employees with a high school diploma (or GED) who can also pass a drug screen and criminal background check is usually only a fraction of that number.

“We might go through forty people and end up with ten,” he said. “And out of those ten, only five show up for their assignments.”

Yet another reason for the local outreach for the automotive openings is that applicants in Etowah County often aren't as amenable to the 25-minute drive between Centre and Gadsden as most of the people at the other end of that stretch of Highway 411.

“Sometimes driving conditions are a factor,” Martinez said. “People here in Etowah County may not be willing to drive twenty miles to go to work, so that's another reason why we were in Cherokee County looking for applicants.”

Martinez said anyone who feels less than qualified for an automotive job still should not be discouraged from reaching out to PSI.

“We represent many clients, many locations,” Martinez said. “We have jobs available. We need people and we can help—as long as they meet qualifications and want to work.”

On the Internet: www.personnelstaffing.com.