In the predominantly manufacturing area of Hickory, North Carolina, joblessness grew by 4.5 percentage points in the last 12 months - a higher growth rate than anywhere else in the United States. Employers who, just one year ago, had trouble filling positions or had difficulty keeping employees if demands were too high, are now finding large applicant pools and employees willing to do more in order to keep their jobs. Some managers see the economic downturn as useful, because they were losing training dollars, having difficulty expanding product lines, and local leaders were having trouble promising labor to any new industries thinking about locating in the area.
See "A Region's Workers Go From Flush Time to Hard Times, Fast", David Firestone, The New York Times, September 6, 2001