BEAUMONT — Candidates for Jefferson County judge discussed the county’s unemployment rate and ways to lower it at the Southeast Texas Press Club meeting Thursday.

Democratic candidate Nick Lampson said he wants to see programs initiated to get area people trained for jobs.

“What about the people that aren’t in the job market because we are told that they have a drug problem, or because they don’t have the ability to get the training?” he said. “Those jobs need to be built for us, and we need to have our people taking them. We can do better.”

Incumbent Jeff Branick, a Republican, said he believes the unemployment rate needs to drop, but said the county is heading in the right direction. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for Jefferson County, as of May, is 6.2 percent. When Branick took over as county judge in 2011, unemployment was at 11.2 percent.

“We’ve gotten better,” Branick said. “The county entered an agreement about six months ago to lease the juvenile detention facility to accompany a group called the Dream Center. They’ve had tremendous success out in Los Angeles. The Dream Center here is going to be involved in substance abuse treatment, job training, providing food for those that don’t have any and job skills training.”

Branick said he is excited about the opportunities the Dream Center can provide in the county.

“I’m glad that they are going to reach out to those people that made bad decisions because of addictions and have not had an opportunity to participate in our economic revival over here. We do want those people to participate,” he said.

Lampson said the county has great jobs and he wants to strengthen the tax abatement agreements with companies to hire more local workers.

“Too many outside workers are being brought in,” he said. “The money that we are paying them is taken out of our community and we’re helping the economic development of the other communities. That really needs to change. We need to find a way to hold their feet to the fire.”

Early voting begins Tuesday and runs through Nov. 2.

Election Day is Nov 6.