work . Keith said `` everybody you talk to '' tells him , '' ` well , we 're not hiring . We ai n't got nothing open right now . ' '' Vickie has suffered her own layoff . She lost her job in 2006 when furniture maker Ethan Allen closed its plant in the area . She decided to retrain and will graduate from the local community college in May as a certified medical assistant . Vickie hopes to get a job at a local clinic , but jobs are hard to come by in this area . Major industries , including textile manufacturing , furniture making and mining , have downsized or left the area completely . The Rev. Bill Sweetser works with Shepherd 's Staff , a local food pantry . He says workers there are seeing three times as many clients as they did just last year . Watch how the Murdocks have struggled against the bad economy '' The food bank is in an old textile mill that just a few years ago was one of the largest employers in Mitchell County . Now , former workers come there for assistance . `` Right
SPRUCE PINE , North Carolina -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Like most parents , Vickie and Keith Murdock worry about providing for their family . With three teenage daughters , that can be a big challenge , but these days it 's more difficult than ever . Keith and Vickie Murdock retrained for new jobs after suffering layoffs . But they remain unemployed . Vickie and Keith are both out of work . They live in Spruce Pine , North Carolina , a tiny mountain town about an hour 's drive northeast of Asheville that has lost more than 2,000 jobs since 2003 . That 's a devastating number , given that Mitchell County 's 2000 Census population was only 15,687 . Keith was laid off in 2001 , when a textile mill closed . He had worked there for 13 years . He did what all the experts say to do : He went back to school , got his GED and retrained to be an auto body mechanic . After graduation , he found a job at nearby Altec Industries . But again , he was laid off in January . Today , he spends his time looking for