BROSVILLE — To serve the rising population of jobless people in the Danville and Martinsville areas, the Virginia Employment Commission has opened an Unemployment Express Office in the Brosville Business Center.
The office opened Monday at 11980 Martinsville Highway, Suite D, and will serve those living in western Pittsylvania and eastern Henry counties, Ralph Price, office manager at Danville’s employment office, said Monday.
The new office is located roughly halfway between two existing state employment commission offices, one in Danville and the other in Martinsville. The new express office in Brosville will shorten lengthy waits resulting from increasing demand for services, Price said.
How many people could be helped by this new office? In Danville and Pittsylvania County, 6,446 are out of work, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. Another 1,301 unemployed people live in Martinsville, and 3,945 in Henry County.
That gives this new office a total potential market of 11,692 job seekers.
The area’s jobless will be able to file claims for unemployment benefits online and by paper, Joyce Fogg, a spokeswoman with the VEC, said in a prepared statement. Service will be “abbreviated” and staff will not be able to answer incoming calls, Fogg said. Computers will also be available for jobless customers to search for work online.
“People can get in, get the service they want and get out,” Price said.
The state of Virginia is opening Unemployment Express Offices throughout the commonwealth to serve displaced workers and has formed an Economic Crisis Strike Force to coordinate statewide response, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“It is our obligation to respond to the ongoing recession and the resulting layoffs with all of the tools we have in government,” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in the release. “Through the Strike Force, we are coordinating a wide variety of services to Virginians in the area of economic development, social services, unemployment insurance and job search assistance.”
• Contact John R. Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.
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