The state is directing another nearly $6 million to a jobs program in Perry County, where unemployment had reached as high as one in four. The money comes from the Recovery Act and will fund more than 400 jobs through September of next year.
The initial plan was capped at $5 million and directly funded 300 positions. The jobs range from bakers to road builders. Jan McKeel directs the region’s career center and says Perry County offered a unique opportunity to directly subsidize jobs.
“We’re pumping into the community anywhere from $180,000 to close to $200,000 a week in positions that are being reimbursed.”
Most of those jobs will be gone this time next year. But McKeel recently surveyed participating businesses and two-thirds said they intend to keep at least one of the positions after the stimulus money runs out.
Perry County has fewer than 8,000 residents. So far, the program has helped reduce the unemployment rate from 25% to 18%.
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