In order to focus on developing a highly skilled workforce in three counties in northwestern South Carolina, WorkLink was formed as an agency in the labor market was named Worklink Region. The agency promotes is a partnership among the three counties of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties. Governments, agencies, businesses, and educational facilities work together to build a strong and continuing link between Worklink Region employers and the qualified labor pool in the three counties.

Worklink provides resources in both Spanish and English and holds job fairs to help people find gainful employment. Funded by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Worklink will benefir form ARRA Stimulus Package funds from 2009 - 2012. Additional dollars for Employment and Training as well as insfrastructure projects that provide new jobs are expected to boost the enconomy of all three counties.

In addition, the WorkLink agency opened the first workforce website in South Carolina that was designed to accomodate Americans with Disabilities.

Worklink Region Demographics, 2007; 2009

• Average Wage for the employed - $16.12/hr or about $34,000 annually in 2007.
• Age - The largest groups of people in this region are young adults ages 25 - 44 and mid-careerists aged 45 - 64 (about 95,000 in each group).
• Populaton - The Hispanic population grew almost 50% from 2000 - 2005. total population for the three counties was about 367,000, with Anderson County leading the three, with half of the total number. Another 15,000 people were added to WorkLink in 2007-2009 alone.
• Industry Leaders - Government and Manufacturing

WIA and ARRA Stimulus Package funds help to train workers in the Worklink Region. Through a special WorkLink agency program, participating companies can be reinmbursed for 75% of the on-the-job training costs for their employees. Greater numbers of companies began to take advantage of the WorkLink’s OJT Program during the recession of 2008 - 2009. This program reduces the costs of employment to the companies and allows employers to open more jobs to job seekers. The WorkLink agancy also screens and interviews job candidates for these employers, further reducing costs.

1. AnMed Health & Anderson Medical Center - AnMed Job Listings
2. Anderson County School District #5
3. HMR Advantage Health Systems
4. Ryobi Technologies
5. Duke Energy - Nurclear energy, in Oconee County.
6. Electrolux Major Appliances
7. Robert Bosch Corporation
8. County and City Governments

Job titles and percent increase in job openings expected from 2004 - 2014

1. Retail Sales 20%
2. Team Assemblers 17%
3. Registered Nurses (RNs) 18.%
4. Waitstaff 12.0
5. Customer Service Representatives 24.0
6. Combined Food Prep & Service Staff 13.0
7. General/Operations Managers 15.0
8. Truck Drivers – Semi & Tractor-Trailer 18.0
9. Home Health Aides (HHAs) 44.0
10. Maintenance/Repair Workers 13.0

Anderson County was very important in the Revolutionary War. The City of Anderson was named to honor Robert Anderson, a Revolutionary War general who migrated from Virginia to South Carolina his friend, Andrew Pickens. Pickens County is named for this friend. Together, the two men surveyed lands given to the English Colony of South Carolina by the Cherokee Nation. During the revolution, Anderson became a war hero along with Brigadier General Francis Marion - the legendary Swamp Fox.

The City of Anderson was founded after the war and incorporated by in 1833. It became the first city in the south to have an unlimited supply of electric power, therefore it is nicknamed The Electric City, a slogan worn on the sleeve patches of the police department. The first cotton gin globally to be run by electricity was fired up in Anderson County in 1897.

The Swamp Fox refused to march across fields in straight lines, firing muskets as the British did. His men dropped onto British backs from out of tree branches and the camouflage of bushes. they helped to win the Revolution.

• FEATURED: Francis Marion University - in nearby Florence; see film to the right. The school hs an interesting program in Gender Studies.
• Anderson University - Began as the Johnson Women's Seminary in 1848.
• Anderson University Trojans - Athletics & Sports
• Carolina College-Hair Design
• Clemson University - in Clemson, 16 miles from Anderson.
• Forrest Junior College
• Living Water Bible College
• Tri-County Technical College

Forrest Junior College

This school offers accreditied Healthcare related programs that help to fill the related job opens in the medical and health areas in the Worklink Region. Forrest offers Medical Assistant training, Criminal Justice, a Medical Clinical Assistant and Office Assistant Diplomas, a Patient Care Technician Diploma, a Phlebotmy Diploma, dilpomas in clerical areas,  a Diploma of Computer and Network Repair/Service,  Certifcations in Nursing Assisting, and other training in accounting, childcare, paralegal and office careers. All of these credentials can be earned in less than two years.

Founded back in 1946 after World War II, Forrest serves students that range in age from the late teens all the way to to the seventies. The administration consideres its colelge community to be progressive and non-traditional. Firrest Junior College is located at 601 East River Street in Anderson, SC 29624. Phone (864) 225-7653.