More than 600 jobs and apprenticeships will be on offer at today's Keep Australia Working Jobs Expo at the Lake Kawana Community Centre.
The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on the Sunshine Coast for the Jobs Expo along with Parliamentary Secretary for Employment Jason Clare and Member for Longman, Jon Sullivan.
Mr Sullivan said the region has been hit hard by the global recession - unemployment on the Sunshine Coast is 6.6 per cent.
"That's well above the national average and that's why we're holding today's Jobs Expo," Mr Sullivan said.
"It's pretty simple. We are putting local employers with jobs and local people looking for work in the one place."
Around 70 exhibitors will take part in the Expo - including major local employers and training companies like:
- Energex - 50 jobs;
- Hyatt Regency Coolum - 31 jobs;
- Mission Australia - 23 jobs;
- Australian Country Music Association - 5 jobs; and
- Steps Disability QLD - 5 jobs.
Some of the jobs on offer included farmers, accountants, retails assistants aged carers, nurses, bar managers, bakers and apprenticeships in plumbing and hospitality.
"It's a jobs supermarket," Mr Sullivan said.
"It is a practical example of the action the Rudd Government is taking to get local people back to work."
The action the Government took last year has kept the economy strong, but there are still regions which are doing it tough. Today's event is one of at least 20 Keep Australia Working Jobs Expos that will be held in regions hardest hit by the global recession.
The 18 Jobs Expos held so far have created up to 6,700 jobs.