Camden (WLTX) - It's a sobering reminder of just how bad the job market is. Kershaw County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at nearly 12 percent.
But the Employment Security Commission is hoping to get a lot of folks back to work after holding a job forum.
Before the doors opened at five o'clock Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of folks lined up outside Camden Middle School in Camden. They were hoping to land a job.
Steve Sanders was among those looking for work. "Maintenance or either machinery work,"says Sanders.
In July last year, Sanders, the sole provider for his wife and two children, found himself on unemployment after his job as a powder coater ended when his company packed up and moved.
"I was on it (unemployment) one time before in 1988 and I stayed on it two weeks and right after that I got a job,"says Sanders.
But this time things are a lot different. "Jobs you go to say they're not hiring. We can't hire anybody because we just got finished laying off 12 people,"says Sanders.
But the clock is ticking. Sanders has just a few months left before the unemployment checks stop coming. That has his wife Dalephine worried.
"It's scary, just knowing that, knowing that his unemployment runs out,"says Sanders' wife.
The couple home school their two children Elizabeth and Jonathan. And while that has helped stretch their money so far, it will mean a lot less soon.
"When that runs out and there's not a job, we'll definitely be depending on the Lord that much more,"says Sanders' wife.
"Money don't last forever, it runs out pretty quickly,"says Sanders. But they're hoping just long enough to secure a job.
The event was co-sponsored by Rep. Laurie Funderburk and the South Carolina Employment Security Commission, with the support of the Kershaw County Legislative Delegation.
8/25/2009 11:34:10 PM
