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After big furniture maker shutters, Alexander County still looking forward

On Flashpoint, the county manager lays out the struggle of finding jobs for 500 workers.

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. — Alexander County is a small, rural county in North Carolina with about 37,000 residents.  

That means when its largest employer -- furniture maker Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams -- announced its bankruptcy recently, and 500 local workers lost their jobs, it had a big impact.

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"We had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state," Alexander County Manager Shane Fox said on WCNC Charlotte's Flashpoint. "This closure of over 500 employees losing their jobs instantaneously last Saturday, definitely put a huge damper into that, that progress that we were making."

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Adding to the problem, Fox said thousands of workers leave Alexander County everyday to work in surrounding counties.   He'd like for them to have jobs in their home county.

For the those recently laid off, the county is hosting a job fair Tuesday, Sept. 12 in Taylorsville.

Contact Ben Thompson at bthompson@wcnc.com and follow him on FacebookX and Instagram.

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