Journalnow.com - Winston-Salem Journal

Although economists say that the recession has officially ended, DSS Director Joe Raymond predicts that the number of people needing help - and needing DSS workers to assist them - will continue to rise. Raymond calls the DSS case- load a "lagging indicator" of recovery because it takes time for economic recovery to reach the neediest people.

[Dudley Watts] said that the county has already made some changes to speed up hiring and will consider Raymond's request. While the county had a "soft freeze" on hiring in place during the worst of the county's budget crunch, Watts said, it did allow DSS to fill some jobs "that we would not have unfrozen for anybody else."

"We were in a terrible budget position," Watts said. "It was a worsening situation that each month seemed to get a little worse and worse. What I had to do as the manager was make sure we were OK. We took some actions that were necessary to do that, and some of that resulted in DSS positions getting filled at a slower rate."