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Total jobs won't rise for Davidson County
One company expects to hire 100 as another is cutting
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Published: October 3, 2009
Davidson County is going to have no overall gain in its job market from two recent work-force announcements.
On the positive side, The Assurance Group said yesterday that it plans to add about 100 jobs at its operations in Thomasville.
The company is conducting a job fair at noon Friday for its call-center division, Innovative Marketing Solutions Center Inc., at 123-D Sunrise Center Drive.
On the negative side, Diebold Inc. said it will cut 80 full-time and 20 part-time jobs at its operations in Lexington. Once the move is completed, Diebold will have about 100 employees in Lexington.
The company plans to add between 40 and 50 jobs to its manufacturing plant near Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, spokesman Mike Jacobsen. Other production is being shifted to a plant in Hungary.
Diebold officials said that the production transfer is part of a global cost-cutting initiative, particularly involving its automated-teller machines.
The job announcements come at a time when Davidson County has a 13.1 percent unemployment rate as of August.
The Assurance Group said that a recent expansion and the start of two divisions have created the need for the new jobs. The Innovative Marketing division serves about 600,000 clients nationwide, the company said.
"In these challenging economic times, we're very fortunate to be experiencing growth," said Paul Straubel, the chief marketing officer at The Assurance Group. "We're not consolidating from another operation.
"Through the years I've seen a number of ups and downs, yet our business continues to be virtually recession proof -- everyone still needs insurance protection no matter what the economy is doing."
Experience in customer service or telecommunications sales is helpful, but the company said it would offer training. The company also aims to hire for headquarters jobs.
For more information about the job fair, call Crystal Shortridge at 888-211-6945, ext. 2403. Straubel said that pay will be based on level of experience and the job, starting at $9 an hour. He said that the company plans other job fairs until its hiring plans are completed.
The Diebold job cut is its second in Lexington in the past 13 months. It also eliminated 50 jobs as part of a transfer of production to Greensboro in September 2008.
In May 2008, Diebold was made eligible for a combined $123,638 in incentives by the Lexington City Council and Davidson County Board of Commissioners. The incentives were based on spending $4.5 million in an expansion and retaining at least 250 jobs.
"They made the investment and hired more folks but never signed the contract for the incentives," said Steve Googe, the executive director of the county Economic Development Commission.
With the Diebold job cuts, Davidson has lost nearly 8,000 manufacturing jobs since 1999.
rcraver@wsjournal.com | 727-7376
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