A federal job fair hosted by our office in Stafford today drew an estimated 7,000 job-seekers, causing long lines and lengthy wait times for individuals seeking employment information from the 39 federal agencies that sent recruiters to the event.

Senator Warner dropped-by early in the day to visit with the jobseekers as they waited in line. "I wish the demand wasn't this high," Warner said.

Over the weekend, the number of people who registered to attend the job fair reached 5,000. Local law enforcement officials told us that as many as 7,000 people actually showed-up for the event at University of Mary Washington's graduate campus in Stafford. An additional 1,000 individuals were still in line when the job fair drew to a close at 4:00 p.m. -- four hours later than originally scheduled.

For those who could not stay, our staff collected resumes to distribute to representatives from participating federal agencies. And to accommodate the apparent demand, we have already started planning our next job fair, which will take place in the coming weeks. (Click here to sign-up for notification of the details of the next job fair.)

When Senator Warner returned to Washington later in the day, he spoke on the Senate floor about his reaction to the large crowds and urged his colleagues to work harder -- and in a bipartisan way -- to help improve the struggling economy.

“This unanticipated demand says a lot about the state of our economy. I heard story after story from folks who never expected to see their lives turned upside down by unemployment. None of these folks were looking for a hand-out: they simply wanted an opportunity for a better job for themselves and for their families.

“Here in the Senate, when we talk about the need to unclog small business lending – and provide smarter incentives to attract economic investment and jobs back to this country – we need to focus on folks like those I visited with today, What we do here is terribly important, and it is vitally important that we work together to move our nation forward.”