Santee resident Ricky Void, 50, has had a lot of jobs in his lifetime.

All looked relatively secure for Void, who last worked for the Bosch plant in North Charleston. After all, Void had been working as a forklift driver for more than two years and the stability was welcome.

But this security would all change in the summer of 2008 when Void was informed his services were no longer needed.

Since then Void has been without a job.

“I have had a lot of jobs, man, but I have never faced unemployment like this,” he said. “There is no work.”

Void said many agencies encourage job seekers to acquire employment for a couple of weeks and then draw on unemployment.

“What sense does that make?” he said. “I do everything I can. It has gotten to the point where I have had to go get food stamps. I have not drawn food stamps since I don’t know when.”

Void says his only car has broken down and now he is without of transportation.

“I am living with my aunt,” he said. “Man, there are a lot of bills. I get help from the family. If it was not for family I would be like everybody else walking in the stores trying to rob them. It is going to get worse.”

Void was among the steady stream of unemployed walking through the doors of the Orangeburg Workforce Development Center recently, searching for the elusive job.

The latest unemployment figures released Friday show Orangeburg County’s unemployment rate at 17.8 percent. That’s down from the record 18.7 percent in September, the highest since county-by-county record-keeping began 19 years ago.

The county was ranked eighth highest among the counties.

Edward Spigner worked at Orangeburg’s Hikari USA plant as a machine operator for about six months before he lost his job in July 2008.

Spigner said the past year and a half has been one fruitless job search.

“It has been rough,” Spigner said. He said currently unemployment benefits are about $184 a week, plus the $25 additional received in federal stimulus money.

“I would rather work than getting unemployment. You know you’ve got to pay bills and you’ve got to live. I’d much rather work any day,” he said.

Spigner lives in a mobile home that is paid for.

“I got light bills, cable bills, phone bills,” he said, noting that he currently has no car and usually receives transportation from family and friends. “I have done been to Burger King, I done been to (the Department of Social Services) at the job site trying to get a job. I done been to the Waffle House. I mean basically every week I go looking for jobs.”

Spigner, however, sees some glimmer of hope that the job market is turning the bend.

“I think there are a few jobs out here now, but you’ve got to be on them to get them, though,” he said. “It is first-come, first-serve.”

Orangeburg resident Rasheen Monroe, 22, says he is determined to not be discouraged.

“I don’t get depressed,” Monroe said. “It gets stressful though sometimes, you know. But you always smile.”

Monroe has been out of work for six months. He was laid off from Husqvarna in June as part of the company’s traditional seasonal layoff.

“I am hopefully going to go back,” he said.

Monroe said unemployment benefits are about $150 a week.

“I just sit at home a lot,” he said. “I just don’t go out nowhere as much. I eat from my mama’s and grandma’s house. I get a little meal here and there from a fast food place.”

Monroe said things have gotten so bad that he has not been able to keep up with his vehicle insurance payments.

“I can’t drive no more,” he said, noting that not having wheels has impacted his job search.

In the meantime, Monroe tries to remain social in an effort to keep upbeat.

“I like to be around people,” he said. “Somebody to keep a smile on my face and where I can keep a smile on somebody else’s face. As long as you are around positive people, the day goes by all right.”

Taurus Burton says unemployment is just something he is not willing to let keep him down.

The 33-year-old was laid off from Orangeburg’s Southern Patio due to a slowdown in work, but he said his daily persistence visiting the Orangeburg Workforce Development Center paid off. Burton worked at Southern Patio for about three years.

“I jumped on the (online) merchandising business,” Burton said. “I will get up and do something. I may not look for application jobs, but I will do Internet jobs. There is opportunity everywhere. All you really have to do is look for it.”

Burton says though he has only been out of work a week he said it has been challenging.

“I survived but I made it this week,” he said, noting that his parents took him in for the week and helped feed him. “I came out here every day and filled applications on the Internet and they finally called me back.”

Burton said he will help various companies sell their products as a sales representative.

“You gotta do what you gotta do just to make it,” Burton said, noting that “God will not take a person through nothing he can‘t handle.”

Visit T&D Datatrack for an in-depth look at South Carolina’s unemployment stats, 1999-current.

TheTandD.com/datatrack

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com

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