Article: BELOIT HOPES FOR BETTER DAYS LOSING MANUFACTURING JOBS EVEN BEFORE THE RECESSION, TEH CITY NOW FACES A 17.4 PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. STILL, SOME MAJOR EMPLOYERS ARE DOING WELL WITH A SMALLER WORK FORCE.(FRONT)

Byline: DOUG ERICKSON derickson @madison.com 608-252-6149

BELOIT -- Matt Kopp fully understood the bleak job landscape when he applied for a forklift operator job at the Staples distribution center here a few months ago.

The job paid $6 an hour less than what he made at his last job, but the married father of two needed the work.

So did more than 2,000 others.

That's how many people Kopp was told applied for the position. He didn't get an interview.

The story is a familiar one in Beloit, a city of 37,000 people about 50 miles south of Madison. For the past eight months, it has had the highest unemployment rate in the state - ...

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