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GREENSBORO - For Addie Watson, the American dream stopped working when she did.

The 17-year veteran of Procter & Gamble was laid off several months ago. She is now working 20 hours a week without benefits at a distribution center.

She wants to make more and does all she can to learn new skills. But like tens of thousands of other North Carolinians, she's also learning a lesson about hard times.

"There's a lot of people fighting for a few jobs," said Watson, 48.

"We're fighting just to survive."

And the odds against her and others are growing.

Unemployment in the Greensboro/High Point metropolitan area was up to 8.6 percent in December from 8.1 percent in November, according to a state Employment Security Commission report released Friday.

Unemployment crept upward in 97 of the state's 100 counties in December .

There was some job growth - information, financial activities and the leisure and hospitality industries added workers - but those aren't necessarily the kinds of jobs that pay as well.

Still, manufacturing shed jobs, for example, and that hurts workers like Watson.

"We've noticed a significant increase in people coming into the office since the end of September," said Ben Barnwell, the local ESC manager.

In fact, the number of unemployed people in the Triad's major counties has nearly doubled since December of 2007.

"What everybody is worrying about is ... we're seeing the breadth of it but nobody knows what the depth of it is," said Andy James, director of public information for the Employment Security Commission.

Watson said she is qualified to work in factories doing quality control, forklift, computer and other types of work.

She completed two short classes at GTCC under the Quick Jobs With a Future program. One trained her for collections work at call centers, the other for warehouse work, both areas that have been hiring in recent months.

"Still, that doesn't guarantee anything," she said.

Corporations require rigorous testing, she said, and they can be very choosy. Companies can delay hiring because they're worried about budgets, and the well of qualified workers like Watson is deep.

Although she and her husband have grown children, his work at Gilbarco was temporarily interrupted in the fall and they want more financial stability.

Even so, jobs paying $7 to $8 an hour are tough to find, Watson said.

Across the state, Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 13.9 percent . Edgecombe County had the second-highest rate at 13.8 percent. Orange County had the lowest rate at 4.8 percent and Watauga County was second with 5.7 percent.

Watson goes on faith that the recession will end.

"I'm a true believer that it will," she said. "If it doesn't, we'll all be in trouble."

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com