A two-day job fair held by Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium to fill 500 part-time jobs for the baseball season attracted nearly 7,000 applicants.

With the team in Glendale, Arizona, for spring training, the stadium became a human resources arena Saturday and Sunday during the 2009 Dodgertown Job Fair.

Dodgers officials said they had expected as many as 10,000 applicants to show up during the weekend, based on similar job fairs held by other teams across the country as unemployment climbs and economic conditions worsen for many people.

The jobs to be filled from the fair pay from $9.50 to $17 an hour, and they drew applicants from a broad spectrum of ages and backgrounds.

On both days, applicants were handed individual, numbered wristbands at the entrance to the stadium. They sat and waited, listening for their number to be called. Numbers were called in groups, and the groups filed to the suite level, where they filled out applications, then sat down for a preliminary interview that could last a few seconds or a few minutes, depending upon an applicant’s experience and interest.

In January, the unemployment rate in California rose to 10.1%.