Jeff Hentschel
Al Abernathy

Leigh Ann Lingerfelt, of Red Bank, has been out of work for about seven weeks, and she's really beginning to worry.

"I didn't think it would be this difficult to find work," said the 41-year-old professional saleswoman and single mother of an 18-month-old. "That's been the hardest thing -- seeing that there isn't much out there. And it doesn't seem to be getting any better."

In Northwest Georgia, Andrew Hayes, of Rossville, was laid off recently when Aerysin, a Chattanooga wind tower maker, restructured. He said he is pleased with the state's recent announcement to extend jobless benefits, but he, too, is stunned by the few jobs available.

"Working for the past several years at $14 and $16 an hour, making $8 an hour is just not feasible. I've got two kids and a wife, so I'm using the opportunity to go back to school," he said.

Tennessee and Georgia stagger with 9.1 percent and 9.7 percent unemployment rates -- both higher than the national average of 8.6 percent.

Ms. Lingerfelt and Mr. Hayes are among the nearly 726,000 unemployed workers in the Volunteer and Peach states. In both states, the stimulus-promised jobs have yet materialize with the impact needed to help established workers who, until the recession, were making median incomes.

Many of the stimulus projects provide low-wage, summer jobs, such as those hired recently to paint monuments at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Others projects are cranking up more slowly because they require contractor bidding, according to state and recovery watch Web sites.

Mr. Hayes and Ms. Lingerfelt said they are grateful for the extra cash in their unemployment checks, recent extension periods for those checks to be issued and the extra health insurance help that pays about two-thirds of their COBRA coverage -- all parts of the stimulus package.

But they say what they really want and need are jobs comparable to what they lost.

Regional concern

The news of plant shutdowns in the region has become an almost-daily occurrence lately.

* Medical device manufacturer DJO Chattanooga, which operated more than 60 years as Chattanooga Group, announced plans Wednesday to shut its Hixson plant and cut more than 300 jobs.

* This spring, R.L Stowe Mills shut its Chattanooga yarn mill, idling 350.

* Nearly 300 from Dalton's Pilgrim's Pride poultry processing plant are looking for work after a shutdown.

* Earlier this year, 400 lost jobs when Shaw Industries' Calhoun, Ga., facility closed.

* In late 2008, Chattanooga's Big Horn saddlemaker became Southeast Tennessee's 17th business that year to make major employment cuts or close the doors.

* Seymour Tubing Inc. in Dunlap, Tenn., is set to idle 86 workers with a shutdown this summer.

State officials in Georgia and Tennessee say they are doing what they can to help the jobless.

Georgia's unemployment insurance fund got a $220.3 million boost Friday from the federal stimulus package after the state revised its jobless benefit rules to meet new federal standards for aid.

Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said the federal funds "will pay unemployment insurance benefits to jobless Georgians, protect the solvency of Georgia's unemployment insurance trust fund, and help maintain low taxes for Georgia employers."

Tennessee lawmakers last week approved changes in the unemployment benefit program to help the state qualify for $141 million in federal funding for the state's jobless trust fund.

"Those funds would go into the state trust fund to pay for jobless benefits," said Tennessee Department of Labor spokesman Jeff Hentschel.

Jobless fallout

But there are, of course, other complications with being out of work.

Mr. Hayes sits for more than an hour every afternoon, waiting for a public transit to take him back home after classes at Northwestern Technical College in Rock Spring, Ga., where he is studying to become an industrial electrician.

"We don't have a car anymore," said his wife, Jenny.

The family works hard to get what groceries a family of four needs with food stamps, Mr. Hayes said.

Ms. Lingerfelt, for now, said she is living off of her savings -- money she had aside to replace her 1997 Honda Accord. She also struggles with her feelings over her layoff, which came as a complete surprise.

"The worst part for me was that I was just so hurt because I was laid off," she said.

She'd more than made all her quotas, been commended, done everything she was supposed to do and more, she said.

"I just couldn't understand. I was so upset," she said.

For the first several weeks, she had a set routine of job searches: posting and checking posts on five primary Web sites. But all she sees are commission-only jobs. Now, she's decided to use her marketing ability to sell herself and her skills.

"I'm going down my Facebook list and my friends, taking them to lunch, talking to them about what I can offer. I'm networking."

Jobless percentage rate* by location

National: 8.9

Tennessee: 9.7

Monroe: 17.9

Meigs: 14.1

McMinn: 13.6

Grundy: 13.4

Rhea: 12.6

Bledsoe: 12.5

Polk: 12.4

Sequatchie: 11.4

Marion: 11.0

Franklin: 9.7

Bradley: 9.3

Roane: 8.8

Hamilton: 8.3

Georgia: 9.1

Chattooga: 13.6

Murray: 12.9

Whitfield: 12.7

Fannin: 10.1

Walker: 9.7

Dade: 9.6

Catoosa: 8.2

*Not seasonally adjusted

Source: Department of Labor

Promised stimulus jobs*

Tennessee: 546 projects, more than $1.3 billion, 70,000 jobs

Hamilton: Seven projects, more than $3.1 million

Sequatchie: Three projects, $550,000

Marion: Three projects, $950,000

Bradley: Six projects, $5.75 million

Franklin: Two projects, $710,000

Grundy: One project, to be bid

Bledsoe: Three projects, $720,000

Rhea: Three projects, $1 million

Meigs: Three projects, $1 million

McMinn: Three projects, $380,000

Polk: Three projects, $26.8 million

Roane: One project, to be bid

Georgia: 471 projects, nearly $925.6 million, 106,000 jobs

Dade: No projects

Walker: One project, $1.3 million

Catoosa: No projects

Whitfield: No projects

Murray: Four projects, to be bid

Gordon: One project, $1.6 million

Chattooga: No projects

Fannin: No projects

*Jobs as of March 6, 2009

Source: Recovery.org