The state’s unemployment rate soared to its highest recorded level in May, reaching 9.7 percent. Some 463,883 unemployed Georgians are seeking jobs, a 62 percent increase from May 2008.

They are facing one of life’s toughest challenges. As Whitney Young Jr., once said, “The hardest work in the world is being out of work.”

What to do amid the frustrating search for a job? A new initiative designed by the state Department of Labor is affording at least some assistance for those many men and women in need. Its “Georgia Works” program allows laid-off workers to receive on-site workplace training, regular unemployment insurance benefits and a special training

allowance. (The latter covers some of the costs incurred with the training, for example, childcare, transportation, tools and work clothes.) To be eligible for the program, you must qualify for unemployment insurance.

As Michael L. Thurmond, Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner, describes it: “Georgia Works enables businesses to audition potential employees, and it helps the unemployed gain access to training and, potentially, new jobs. What this does is create a transitional period between unemployment and employment.”

In Georgia Works, employers offer training for up to 24 hours per week for up to eight weeks. Successful trainees receive certification of their job skills, which should be a boost to their future employment.

Those job-seekers in Baldwin, Putnam and Wilkinson counties who wish to learn more about Georgia Works are encouraged to contact Ethel Wynn, Georgia Department of Labor, Career Center, 156 Roberson Mill Rd., Milledgeville, GA 31061-4901 at (478) 445-5465.

While this statewide program aims to benefit those all across Georgia who are presently unemployed, job-seekers may also want to take advantage of an upcoming event geared at helping those in the local community who have lost their jobs find much-needed unemployment.

The Union-Recorder will host a career fair today at Milledgeville Mall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in an effort to the local unemployed in their job search. Area business and industries will be on hand for the event, and hopefully so will a number of potential hires.

The 19th-century Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle called unemployed workers the “saddest sight” imaginable. While it is not a panacea, we hope that Georgia Works generates renewed hope, light and results for many in our state who are now without the sustenance that having a job provides.