TUCSON, June 14, 2012 -- Arizona's unemployment continues to hold steady at 8.2 percent. The figures are unchanged compared to April figures.

Carlos Parada is among those looking for work. The 25-year-old has been unemployed since March, "I have a lot of bills I need to pay. Debt is building up so I'm looking for full-time work."

The 25-year-old earned his geography degree from the University of Arizona in December and says he's been sending out mass resumes, "I know that something will come up but it is frustrating because you know day by day when you don't have something it'll get to you."

Parada was among the first 110 people who applied for a job with LivingSocial on Thursday morning at the University Marriott Hotel. The call center expects to offer at least 80 jobs in its preliminary hiring spree, "Tucson has been a very well performing market since we launched in the 2010 time frame," said Brendan P. Lewis, a representative for the world-wide company. According to Lewis, the company plans to hire up to 180 personnel.

Lewis would not say how much employees could expect to make but that salaries would be competitive. "We're seeing a lot of people that are very excited to have an opportunity to interview for a job and a hopefully gain employment," he said.

John Hannan has been hunting for a job for the last three months, "I need to feed my family so absolutely it's critical."

Hannan said he's not giving up, "You just have to be creative and you have to be tenacious about it and spend your day looking for work and that's why I do."

It's every applicant for themselves putting forth their best effort in a tough market, "there's a lot of people coming through. I don't know what's going to happen. Hopefully they'll call me," Parada said.

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: http://www.kvoa.com