While local industries were cutting back on work in the past year, the North Carolina Employment Security Commission was seeing a surge in new business as unemployed workers looked for answers.

For that effort, the Rockingham office of the ESC received an award of excellence Thursday in helping Richmond County workers through a fiscal year. Unemployment stayed in the double digits and topped 15 percent at times.

The period between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 was one that saw hectic activity at the Rockingham office, ESC Local Office Manager Judy Carpenter said.

She described the situation her staff faced over the course of the last year as “very difficult,” with low morale at times as they did all they could to help people who were out of a job.

“During the 2008-2009 year, we had business shut down including UCO, SMI and Viking Pools, while we continued to work with displaced workers from Sara Lee and a lot of other businesses cut back, meaning we worked with those employees,” she said. “We had a lot of people who were affected by foreign trade, meaning we worked with them to get them in school and other programs.

“It was a very difficult year, and we were down a number of staff members as our agency also dealt with cutbacks.”

As businesses cut back, there is more work to be done at the unemployment office, Carpenter said.

“You talk to people that have lost their jobs, and they don’t have money for food or to pay their bills, so it can get very depressing for our staff,” she continued. “This has definitely helped morale in our office, knowing that the job we’ve done is appreciated.”

The Director of the ESC’s Employment Services spoke to the prestige of the honor within the state agency.

“The Fleming Award is a highly-coveted honor,” said ESC Employment Services

Director Manfred Emmrich. “The award is named for the late Mr. Fleming, who served the state of North Carolina for over 30-years and typified high-quality service, honesty and what a public servant should be. Those characteristics are what the award represents and are why our local offices staffs around the state want to take home this honor.”

Rockingham Local Office Assistant Manager and JobLink Coordinator Mike Railton said he thought his staff deserved the award for the work they put in.

“I think our staff has shown a great deal of professionalism and customer service through a very difficult situation,” JobLink Coordinator Mike Railton said. “It’s good to be recognized for our work during a year when the unemployment rate was up, and we’ve seen a record number of customers, processed a record of claims and problems with those claims.”

Carpenter explained the Fleming Award is given to six of the state’s 90 ESC offices, based on certain criteria.

“The office has to meet all of its goals, which include having people placed in jobs, unemployment insurance claims taken, obtained employment, we have goals for the veterans programs and WIA standards which means having people placed in school, and participation in community events,” she said. “Basically, anything we do is lumped into that criteria.”

n Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.