In Georgetown Friday, 240 workers left their jobs for a month-long shutdown at Arcelor-Mittal Steel.
The plant is shutting down for more than a month because of the lack of orders in our faltering economy.
The steel mill already went through a recent round of lay-offs.
The union leader says workers are collecting unemployment, 80% of their wages, and he says they should get their jobs back next month.
All across Georgetown County, lay-offs are up and job vacancies are down.
And the Georgetown Workforce Center director says this is, by far, the worst she has ever seen.
"You really hate to see the unemployment rate go to 8.7, especially as small as Georgetown County is, and the industry we do here, we certainly hope these folks will soon get back to work," said Brenda England, Georgetown County Workforce Center.
The United Steelworkers Union leader says he does believe the steel mill will reopen January 12th, so people should be able to go back to work.
