ROCK HILL, S.C. — Dozens of people showed up for a Publix job fair in Rock Hill on Tuesday.
The grocery store chain is looking to hire people for two new stores opening in Fort Mill and Indian Land.
Melody Shear dropped her daughter off at the job fair Tuesday morning.
“She is in desperate need for a job and it's a hard market right now for even teenagers to get a job,” Shear said.
Teens and adults came to the job fair hoping to land one of 250 positions the grocery store chain plans to hire.
Publix is in the process of building two new stores. One store is located off Highway 521 in Lancaster and another store is off Gold Hill Road in Fort Mill. The stores are set to open in late October and the company could start hiring as early as next week.
Many people at the job fair said they've been scouring the area, searching for jobs for months.
Shear said her daughter has put in applications at several places.
“She has tried everywhere -- Lake Wylie, Rock Hill, now we're in Fort Mill,” she said.
Many counties in the area are seeing double-digit unemployment. In June, the jobless rate in York County was 11.2 percent. Lancaster County's unemployment rate was 13 percent. Chesterfield County was slightly higher at 13.5 percent, while the Chester County unemployment rate was 14.8 percent.
Publix is accepting applications until 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Holiday Inn on Galleria Boulevard in Rock Hill. It will be at the same location on Wednesday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.