Philadelphia gets creative to fill vacancies in municipal jobs

Philadelphia is taking the task of driving down unemployment quite literally.

Why it matters: The city has more than 120 job vacancies it's currently hiring for, and it's sending out a Hiring Bus to recruit residents.

The big picture: Philadelphia's unemployment rate was 3.7% as of June — slightly below the national average of 4.1%.

Driving the news: The Hiring Bus is making several stops at city events in the coming weeks, including today at the Fox Chase Playground during National Night Out.

• The mobile recruitment effort is staffed by a team of HR professionals who can look over residents' resumes and give them tips on how to best prepare for interviewers, per the city.

Context: The city has deployed several methods to try to fill some of the more than 6,300 employee vacancies that Mayor Cherelle Parker inherited when she took office in January.

• Last month, Parker appeared in a city recruitment pitch on social media, advertising jobs for people "at all levels of experience and education."
• In one of her first acts of office, Parker dropped a degree requirement for some city jobs — an effort to diversify Philadelphia's workforce.

By the numbers: Roughly 35% of Philadelphians 25 and older have a bachelor's degree, per Forbes, ranking the city among the bottom of the country's most educated cities.

What we're watching: Future Hiring Bus stops include:

• Saturday: Neighborhood Block Party at 6400 Ogantz Avenue
• Sept. 7: 35th Police District Unity Day at 5500 N. Broad Street