News 12 at 11 o'clock, March 9, 2010

ALLENDALE CTY, S.C. -- Of 3,218 counties in the United States of America, six CSRA counties are in the top 100 in terms of unemployment rate--equaling thousands of people out of work.

Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, South Carolina's unemployment rate is the third highest, and when you break it down to the local level, Allendale County is in the top 10 in the whole nation.

If you visit the town of Allendale, you're bound to meet people like Chrystel Doe, who is unemployed.

The unemployment rate in Allendale County is 23.6 percent, meaning almost one out of every four people is out of work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"There are no jobs at all," Doe said, in distress about not being able to find work. "People in Allendale are failing because we have nothing to hold on to."

Doe and her family picked up and moved to Allendale for her husband's job, but the company her husband worked at relocated. The relocation left him without work, and now the two of them are among more than 5,000 unemployed in our area.

"It's really hard," she said. "We've been behind in bills trying to catch up, just trying to keep our heads above water."

Allendale County has had the highest unemployment rate in South Carolina for the majority of the past year. In Dec. 2009, the 23.6 unemployment rate tied for eighth amongst the nation's top unemployment rates by county.

Barnwell County (SC), 20.1 percent, was tied for 42nd in the nation; Jenkins County (GA), 19.5 percent, tied for 54th; Bamberg County (SC), 18.5 percent tied for 80th; Warren County (GA), 18.4 percent, was 85th; and McCormick County (SC), 18.3 percent was tied for 89th in the nation, according to Dec. 2009 unemployment numbers.

Imperial County in California was number one with a 27.7 percent unemployment rate.

The numbers are a tough sight to see for college students like Laroydya Sanders, who is a nursing student at USC Salkehatchie in Allendale. Right now, she works at a Hardee's restaurant, but once she graduates she tells News 12 she plans on moving out of Allendale into a bigger city.

"There's not that much here," Sanders said. "There's more opportunity and more money (in bigger cities). I love it here, but I just want to go and explore more of the world."

Sanders is hoping her degree will take her out of the county, which Ronnie Jackson, Town of Allendale Mayor, says is in a state of "depression."

"It is a depression when you don't have a job and you can't pay your light bill or your phone bill," Jackson said. "I get a lot of calls and I get a lot of people coming up to me saying they need a job."

The only problem for Jackson is that without many businesses or opportunities he is left without an answer. But he says he is trying to find a new light in a town with little hope.

"We're working with the county to bring in businesses to put people back to work," Jackson said.

Doe is trying to do the same, by asking national leaders, including writing letters to members of Congress for grant money to start up a youth center inside the town to keep kids off the streets and put some people back to work.

She said if her family is left without work for much longer, she will have to pick her family of five up and move in order to survive.

The mayor said right now they are trying to bring in more than a hundred construction jobs. They are looking to build a new dormitory at USC Salkehatchie along with getting a grant to rebuild the National Guard in the county.