AUBURN - While, officially, the state of the American economy has not been labeled as being in a recession by the federal government, there is little doubt that with rising gas prices, a diminishing job market, and concerns over health insurance and secure employment, many people are concerned about their place in the workforce.

Facing that reality, job seekers and employers alike gathered at the Genesee Mall in Auburn Wednesday for The Citizen Job Fair.

Many people, such as Sean Pellett, of Auburn, came with the same thing in mind.

“I'm looking for employment,” Pellett said. “There aren't a lot of jobs out there right now and it is getting tougher, so I thought this might be a good way to come down here and fill out some applications and see what is out there.”

The job fair drew numerous employers from the area, including places such as Unity House, Currier Plastics and Seneca-Cayuga ARC, as well as the U.S. Army and National Tractor Trailer School.

For places such as Finger Lakes Health, attending the job fair has been a long-standing tradition that has yielded solid employees.

“We usually do very well,” said Ann Agnello, of the human resources department at Finger Lakes Health. “We get a lot of interested people. Today we found a radiology tech, which is a difficult position to fill. But the really nice thing is it gives us a chance to meet with people face to face and they can see what we are all about and we can meet with them and see if they might be a good fit.”

The face-to-face element of the job fair has drawn places such as Cayuga Home For Children back for at least the last four years.

This year, the home was recruiting for both prospective employees as well as foster families for youth involved in the program.

“We're going to be doing on-the-spot interviews,” said Chris Shell, residential unit manager. “For residential we get a great turnout and some really good applications every time we are here.”

The job fair not only offers employers the chance to meet job candidates face to face, but it also allows them to simply make people more aware of what is out there in the community.

“We like visibility,” said Jo Anne Charles, staffing coordinator for Cayuga-Seneca ARC. “We get some really high quality applicants that attend the job fair. We also really like that visibility and what that does for us in the community.”

For job seekers there are some definite concerns that influenced their decision to attend the fair.

Many said that having benefits and job security were at the top of that list.

But employment in general was the major priority for many.

“It's tough out there,” said Jose Reyes, of Auburn. “It is getting really hard and really competitive. I think I'd really like to go into real estate. But right now there just aren't a lot of jobs and this is a good opportunity to see what's out there.”