Gov. Bredesen announced Wednesday that Recovery Act funding is available to create as many as 175 jobs in Lauderdale County, where unemployment has hovered around 19% for several months. 

TDOT will hire 50 highway maintenance workers, and 125 more jobs will be filled in the private sector. To be eligible, job applicants must have family income less than 133% of poverty, less than $2000 cash in the bank, and a child under 18 living in their home.

Letters and applications are going out to more than 3,000 unemployed residents in Lauderdale County who have contacted the state employment office at Ripley in the past 12 months. The deadline for application is Jan. 4th and a job fair will be held two weeks later.

Funding for the program is available through Sept. 2010. A similar program in May created 450 jobs in Perry County, which had the state's highest unemployment rate. Gov. Bredesen hopes to use the program as a model that can be implemented in other counties with high unemployment.

Source: Governor's Office