Unfortunately for them, it was a diligent effort that came up empty.
“The county worked with the state of North Carolina to put together a very aggressive incentive package to try to convince Rexam to continue doing business in Hamlet,” said Rick Sago.
He said the deal that was on the table would’ve reached seven figures, when the incentives at the local and state levels were totaled.
“They indicated their decision was not a negative against the county or the workers - it just came down to location,” Sago continued.
He said the dialogue between officials and corporate representatives lasted for “a couple of months,” but unfortunately didn’t produce a deal both sides could agree to keep the plant in Hamlet.
He also said it was his understanding the plant they kept open is a plant they built, while the plant in Hamlet was one they bought-out.
“The bottom line is we tried, and we tried hard,” Sago said. “Their decision is very disappointing.”
It is a bleak, but slightly improving, local job market these workers will be released into at some point during the first quarter of 2010.
Richmond County’s unemployment rate dipped another third of a percentage point in August, according the North Carolina Employment Security Commission’s release of the statistics for the month.
It now officially stands at 13.3 percent, though this figure is not seasonally-adjusted to account for summer employment and the number of teenagers who were available to work during the day before school took back in.
Jobless figures declined in 90 of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Scotland County maintained the highest level of unemployment in the state and Richmond neighbor Anson was one of the six counties to see an increase in joblessness.
In four counties, the rate remained the same.
The Scotland rate for August stood at 16.5, which was a half a percentage point decline while Anson’s jobless rate rose .2 percent to eclipse 15.
Montgomery saw a .1 percent decrease to 13.7, and Moore County’s rate actually returned to single digits after falling .4 percent in August.
Hoke County continued to be the regional leader in keeping its people at work, with its rate falling to 8.4 percent last month.
The state’s unemployment rate in August was 10.7 percent, after being seasonally-adjusted, according to Friday’s release. When it was originally released Friday it was reported as 10.8 percent.
The local chapter president of the Rexam worker’s labor union said many of them are exploring their options to go back to school and be retrained in another field.
An orientation event for the stimulus-funded JobsNOW program at Richmond Community College is being planned today at 5:30 p.m. at the Cole Auditorium.
“There are going to be a number of employers there to talk with workers about what jobs are available in the county,” RCC Vice President of Continuing Education Rich Garrett said of the event.
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