Labor Day in Athens looks gloomy as jobs disappear

ATHENS - Hundreds of workers in the Athens area didn&#39;t go to work on Monday, and it wasn&#39;t because of the national holiday for Labor Day. <br> <br> Jobs have been disappearing from the northeast Georgia area of Clarke, Madison and Oconee counties in the last year mainly in manufacturing and service industries, according to the state Department of Labor. <br> <br> Out-of-work employees are having a hard time finding jobs even if they are qualified because so many people are competing for the same jobs in technology, retail and factories. <br> <br> ``The underbelly of the economic recovery that&#39;s going on is that there&#39;s only a small number of jobs being created,&#39;&#39; said state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. ``That&#39;s causing a lot of the problems.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Statewide, the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in July, down from 5.2 percent in June. A year earlier, in July 2001, the unemployment rate was only 4.3 percent. The unemployment rate was highest in Albany at 5.4 percent. <br> <br> In Athens, 340 more people filed for unemployment in June this year than in the last the most in any metropolitan area of the state. <br> <br> ``It does seem like it&#39;s more difficult than last year to find employment,&#39;&#39; said Margie Heimer, a work force development counselor at Athens Technical College. ``A lot of people are having difficulty finding jobs because it&#39;s so competitive out there.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Medical assistance and clerical jobs are the best bets for workers who have lost jobs in a string of layoffs and plant closings in northeast Georgia in the last year, said Carol Rayburn, director of work force development at the northeast Georgia Regional Development Center. <br> <br> One worker left unemployed, Frances Albert, decided to go back to school and learn how to repair office equipment after losing her job at clock manufacturer General Time. <br> <br> ``I had no training, no skills,&#39;&#39; she said. ``I came out of high school and just started working. But I decided if I tried to find a job in another plant, something would happen there, too, because plants were shutting down left and right.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> More than 1,000 manufacturing jobs have left the Athens area in the last year, along with about 1,000 service jobs, according to the Labor Department. Those losses have been somewhat offset by the creation of government jobs. <br> <br> More layoffs are on the way for northeast Georgia. BellSouth Corp. has said it will close its call center in downtown Athens, and as many as 94 workers could lose their jobs.