LEWISTON – Employment Times, a weekly publication for help-wanted advertising, has merged with the Sun Media Group.

Employment Times produces a weekly employment section that has free distribution of more than 33,000 copies at more than 1,500 locations throughout Maine, seacoast New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

The Sun Media Group is parent company of the Sun Journal, Forecaster, Bethel Citizen, Norway Advertiser Democrat, Rumford Falls Times, Franklin Journal, Livermore Falls Advertiser, Rangeley Highlander and Penobscot Times newspapers.

The Employment Times was founded in April 1999 by four local entrepreneurs looking to start their own business and help connect employers and employees. Jeanne Paquette, one of the founding members, continues to run the organization and will stay on as publisher.

“We are very pleased to be working with the Employment Times, because in the midst of these difficult economic times, it is important for us to develop new ways to strengthen our products,” said Stephen Costello, vice president for Sun Media Group.

“The Employment Times, together with the Sun Journal and the other Sun Media publications, will now be able to offer additional advertising options for Maine employers to reach qualified job applicants and allow job seekers to find great jobs. It will also offer opportunity for growth by allowing us to expand into new products and services for employers throughout the region.” Costello said.

The Employment Times operation and its nine employees will remain at 306 Rodman Road in Auburn. The Employment Times also produces the HR Times, a trade publication for the human resources profession.

“We’re thrilled,” said Paquette. “We will be able to have resources we could not have had if we didn’t combine forces. It’s win-win.”

She added, “Both companies bring something to the table, and I think the result will benefit Maine and seacoast New Hampshire. … We’re going to be able to offer more to our clients and be a bigger and better resource for them.”