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U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan will kick off a yearlong jobs tour today in Scotland County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the state. The tour will include more than a dozen stops as part of an effort by the Greensboro Democrat to raise awareness of job programs for the unemployed and to connect businesses to community colleges that can offer specialized training.
"North Carolina is a vibrant state," Hagan said. "Every CEO who comes into this office talks to me about the work ethic of people in North Carolina. The state is known as a state that is good to do business in. They like our climate. The people are friendly. But we still have 10 percent unemployment."
More than 440,000 North Carolinians are out of work, but Hagan said there are many available jobs where companies are struggling to find workers with the right training.
Last month, Hagan joined Tony Zeiss, president of Charlotte's Central Piedmont Community College, at a workforce-development roundtable in Matthews where she learned that Carolina HealthCare System had 1,000 open jobs.
At the same talk, the CEO of Leonard Automatics Inc. in Denver, N.C., Jeff Frushtick, said he wanted to expand the company but couldn't find mechanical engineers who have the experience in machine design and metal fabrication that they need.
