Email
Print
County jobless rate up
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: April 2, 2009
With more manufacturers, retailers and construction companies cutting back, Iredell County's 10,714 unemployed workers received more than $5.3 million in unemployment insurance benefits in February — the seventh largest amount given to any county.
According to the latest survey from the N.C. Employment Securities Commission, Iredell's unemployment rate went up to 12.9 percent in February.
The county's rate was 11.4 percent in January.
The ESC/Joblink office on Newton Drive has seen an influx of people looking for work after layoffs were levied at major Iredell County employers Canac Kitchen Cabinets, Freightliner and others.
The biggest concerns job-seekers discuss around the ESC/Joblink office computers and waiting area involve the job market and money.
Len Smith, a former Canac employee, was filing for unemployment insurance for the first time Wednesday. He said he wanted to relieve some of the pressure off his wife, who has supported him and her two children.
"She's bringing home the bacon right now, frying it and serving it," he said. "I'm tired of watching her carry the whole load."
NCESC spokesman Larry Parker said Iredell experienced some manufacturing loss in February. Parker said the three employment sectors feeling the brunt of the losses are manufacturing, construction and retail.
"It seems to be a trend, certainly in that part of the state," Parker said.
Smith said he originally thought Canac was filing his unemployment, but after nearly six months of not hearing anything, his wife finally convinced him to file on his own.
Many employers are filing attached claims on behalf of their employees, Parker said. Some of these employers are laying off workers as a temporary measure, and once the economy turns around, they intend to recall their workers.
"We are paying out record benefits right now," Parker said. "What doesn't seem like normal is just that is it's not normal."
As a certified machine operator, Smith said finding a job in this economic climate is tough, simply because the jobs aren't there. He had been attending classes at ITT Technical Institute in hopes of earning his bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
"I had to actually go out of school this quarter because I couldn't pay my tuition," Smith said.
Harmony resident Angela Mobley has received $238 a week since she lost her job in the parts department of Southern Farm Supply in Union Grove.
She has been applying for work in Wilkesboro, Mocksville and Statesville without any luck.
"I've been trying to keep my hopes up," she said. "It's getting harder and harder."
Mobley said she has experienced problems with the NCESC's regulations involving job applications.
For example, she applied for a job at Flexsol Packaging Corporation at the end of March when the company was only accepting applications. She later learned the company had a few job openings, but when she tried to reapply, she was told NCESC rules she had to wait six weeks between applications.
She can apply to Flexsol at the end of this week.
"I'm barely making it," she said. "I have to have at least what I was making ($10 an hour). There isn't a whole lot for me."
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement
