County Jobless Rate: 9.2%

SEBRING --

Today, Rikelle Purcell is the face of unemployment.

Purcell was working at Authorized TV in Blairsville, Ga., but she moved to Sebring, hoping to find a better job. She wound up with more of the same: here, she's an office manager for Appliance Hospital, handling customer telephone calls, scheduling service calls, routing service trucks.

But the recession has taken its toll on both businesses, she said. "There are no service calls," Purcell said. "There's nothing coming in. If it doesn't pick up ..."

If the economy doesn't improve, customers won't call, and she will be out of a job, like 5 million other American workers.

Purcell spent Thursday morning at the Heartland Workforce office, vainly searching through the job listings. Any luck?

"Nothing," she shrugged, after 40 minutes on the computerized job board.

Like much of the workforce, Purcell has been successful in the past, even though she has no specific skills. She's sold cars and TVs and household appliances. She's handled customer service.

"I'm willing to work," said Purcell. "I'll do about anything. I've been up and down the highway. I applied at Winn-Dixie, Publix, Wal-Mart. Circuit City is shutting down all their stores. Wal-Mart's not hiring. Wal-Mart!"

Records Set

Unemployment claim payments for the week of Feb. 21 set an all-time weekly record, Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation reported. Figures for January 2009 nearly doubled from a year earlier, with daily average jobless ranks swelling from 63,270 in February 2008 to 214,740. February's numbers follow a record-setting January.

One bright spot is that the average number of claims last week fell to 47,521, nearly half the 97,000 filed a month earlier. Nationally,667,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims last week, the highest figure since October 1982, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday.

Highlands County, which is usually isolated from the national economy because it's small and rural, is insulated no longer.

Unemployment claims rose from 1,994 at the end of 2006 to 4,585 in 2007 to 6,876 in 2008. The jobless rate climbed from 5.5 percent in January 2008 to 9.2 percent in January 2009.

"I doesn't take much imagination to see what will happen," said Roger Hood, president and CEO of Heartland Workforce in Sebring. "I expect double-digits in unemployment the next time the numbers come out."

The unemployed, he said, are "flocking to the One-Stop. I raised Cain, and asked the state to assist us. They agreed to hire a person locally to help people filing for unemployment."

One-Stop counselors conference every week to match job seekers with employer needs, Hood said.

Frankly, Hood advised, calling 800-204-2418 to claim unemployment benefits is an exercise in futility. "People come in here all the time. We're the One-Stop career center, so they think we're the unemployment office. They say, 'We can't get through.'"

At Heartland Workforce, job seekers can view listings. There were no openings for truck drivers in Highlands County, so Llano typed in "customer service," and found more than 50 openings from Heartland National Bank, Domino's and Office Depot.

At the computers, hopefuls can also create a resume, scan services for youths and seniors, or attend a seminar to learn how to write a cover letter, how to fill out an application, or how to properly act during a job interview. Sessions are scheduled from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 11 and 18, and 9 a.m. to noon March 26.

President Obama's economic stimulus bill contains up to $2,500 per person for retraining, a program that interests Purcell.

"I always wanted to work in pediatrics," she said. Purcell spent another 20 minutes scanning for jobs at the computer, then finally climbed into her Jeep, ready for lunch.

"I'm not used to not having money," she said. "I'm not used to not working."

Computers are available at Heartland Workforce or public libraries. Applications can also be made from home computers.

When applying, applicants should have a resume with dates of employment, addresses and phone numbers of employers, final pay stubs from recent employers, recent W-2 forms, and a green card if they are legal aliens, Llano said.

How To File For Unemployment

Internet: www.fluidnow.com

Phone: 800-204-2418

Fax: 850-921-3865

Best advice: file quickly after you're laid off so you won't miss an unemployment check.

"The best way to apply is by computer," says Blanca Llano, branch manager at the Heartland Workforce job center, 2730 U.S. Highway 27 N.

As she was demonstrating how to apply, she forgot to check two boxes, and the website kicked back her submission, pointing out the incompletions.

"If I had mailed that in, it might have taken a few weeks," Llano said.

Numbers

$275

Maximum weekly unemployment check, regardless of how much you earned

3,621