JOB CREATION OVER DSL

If you think times are tough in telecom, try living in Carroll County, Tenn. Over the past few years, the towns comprising this area two and a half hours west of Nashville have seen massive layoffs and factory closings as manufacturers either collapsed or moved out. The county's unemployment rate rose from 10% to more than 12% in the first quarter alone.

Mary Fowler of McKenzie lost her job assembling steel products at the Lund International plant in 1998, and her husband was laid off from his job at a door-building factory this spring.

The Fowlers aren't alone. Sue Butler worked as a sewing machine operator for the Thomas Bradford Shirt Co. for 27 years before the factory in Huntingdon, Tenn., closed down in early 2000.

Worse, many people in Carroll County can't afford to move there, and the commute is brutal.

“A lot of people in these small towns drive to Jackson and Nashville for work,” Fowler said. “I have a nephew who drives for two hours each way to and from his job every day.”

To lend a hand, in March the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development created six new data entry jobs in Huntingdon. The jobs of processing worker's compensation forms normally would be done at the department's headquarters in Nashville, but with DSL lines from BellSouth, workers can swap data between the two cities. Eventually, the department plans to let employees work from their homes via DSL so jobs can be generated where they're needed most.

Department of Labor Commissioner Michael Magill is counting on the private sector to follow his lead. “We're hoping this project will demonstrate to other employers that telecommuting and teleworking are viable options to helping economies in the hardest hit areas,” he said.

For the Department of Labor, DSL provides a way to heal the state's economic divides. But for Sue Butler and Mary Fowler, two of the six telecommuters who now have steady paychecks thanks to the project, DSL is no less than a lifeline.

“It's a really positive thing for this area,” said Fowler. “I'm just glad to have a job.”