AUGUSTA, Ga.— South Carolina has the third largest unemployment rate in the nation and Barnwell county is one of the places suffering the highest unemployment rates.

The national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. Yet, Barnwell is a whole eight points higher at 17.2 percent. Even worse, workers at the county's employment office expect it to get worse.

They say, one of the reasons so many are out of work are the layoffs and closings from Hanes Brand, Milliken and Allied Air factories in Barnwell.

One of the many people who have stepped into the Barnwell unemployment office Friday was Gary Mixson.

“How is the county going to be like this, how long is the job market going to be like this? It’s not like it used to be,” Mixson said.

Mixson has been laid off for 3 months, and he goes to the Barnwell employment office several times a week.

“SRS came and had a job fair a couple days ago, so I’m going to go online and see what they have open,” Mixson said.

Toriena Tucker, the Director for the Barnwell and Allendale County Workforce Center, says about 150 people come through her door each day.

Barnwell is a county of 23,000 people

"When the customers come in, it's very high and you have such a large amount of people who are feeling lost," Tucker said.

Tucker says making the adjustment from being a salaried employee to getting about $300 from an unemployment check isn't easy for anyone.

"To have a pay check stop and to turn it into an unemployment check creates stress,” Tucker said.

Tucker says she expects the unemployment rate to increase during the next few months.

"We expect it to rise," Tucker said.

"Keep faith, keep hope and keep looking, keep searching and hopefully things will get better."

The employment office expects more jobs to eventually come to Barnwell; but right now, Tucker says the best thing you can do to get hired is to play up your skill level and keep a positive attitude.

Optimism, she says, helps you stand out from the rest.