Hundreds of job opportunities expected to make its way to Clay County

CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — It’s been more than 10 years since the largest employer in Clay County closed for good.

Since then, finding and keeping a long-term job for people who live in the area has been challenging.

According to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, county jobless rates have set records.

From 20.4 percent in December of 2009, to 23.6 percent just this year in April.

But things are turning around and new companies have come to the area. And, existing companies are expanding.

Meryl Fisackerly, VP of Economic Development for the Golden Triangle Development Link, said good things are on the horizon for Clay County.

“If you look historically back at Yokohama’s announcement, Peco’s announcement, and those companies endeavors to bring jobs. We are looking to upwards of 1,500 new jobs being announced in Clay County within just the past few years,” she said.

Positive news for a workforce still stinging from the loss of Bryan Foods in March of 2007.

Frank Randle, who worked for the company for over 20 years, said it was a blow to everyone when the company closed.

“Everything just went for the worse,” he said. “I left Brian Foods making $13 an hour then. And when I started back over, I started over at $7.99 so it was a big big change for me and a lot of the 3,000 folks that worked at Brian Foods.”

As for the type of jobs Navistar Defense will be hiring for?

“I think you can expect all types of jobs. Being clerical, admin, engineers, assembly. With this many jobs I think that there’s gonna be a wide variety of jobs available,” said Fisackerly.

Fore more information on these job opportunities, click here.