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ATTLEBORO - With the economy in free fall and thousands more workers losing their jobs each month, a virtual army of the unemployed is seeking jobless benefits and setting out on new career paths.

In December alone, 1,411 residents in the Sun Chronicle area lost their jobs, leading large crowds to swarm in the Attleboro Career Center on Mechanic Street. The center assists residents in securing state benefits and also provides training and courses for those looking to learn new career skills.

Last week, several center patrons who recently found themselves unemployed were willing to share stories about how they ended up in their predicaments and how they're planning to get themselves out of them.

These are their stories:

It has been over four decades since Donna Tavares of Attleboro was last in school, but after being laid off last May, she now finds herself training for a new career. A former inspector for Hallmark-Sweet, Tavares lost her job when the company shifted jobs overseas and found it increasingly difficult to find a job for which she was qualified.

"There just are no jobs for an inspector," she said. "For a lot of years, it hasn't been this bad."

Faced with that reality, Tavares decided to make use of state-funded training programs in hopes of getting a job in one of the economic sectors where employment numbers are actually increasing.

"I've seen a lot of want ads for medical billing, medical front office," she said. "In my later years, I'm taking advantage (of the training)."

"At least it's a chance at something that's a little better for me," she said.

For Carla Morin, of Attleboro, nearly eight months of perseverance has yet to pay off.

The former customer service representative lost her job in June and, despite near-daily trips to the career center, has yet to land a new one.

"I apply to three or four jobs a day, but no one's hiring," she said. "I even applied at McDonald's."

Like Tavares, Morin is looking toward the expanding health care industry as a possible end to her job search.

"I'd like to be a certified nurse's assistant," she said. Morin was in the office Tuesday to file for an extension of her unemployment benefits, as well as to sign up for computer classes so she can add use of Microsoft Word and Excel to her set of skills.

While she keeps applying for jobs and adding new skills, Morin can't help but be amazed at the current economic climate.

"I've never seen it like this," she said. "No one is hiring."

For the second time in three years, Jeffery Tetlow has found himself out of work and the victim of outsourcing.

A toolmaker from Barrington, R.I., Tetlow finds himself in a position familiar to many area residents who have seen their jobs shipped overseas as companies look to increase profits.

After losing his Attleboro toolmaking job in December, he finds himself looking at other fields for work.

"There's not a lot of hope for the future of the industry, itself," he said. "I have to start a whole new career."

"It's depressing to start over," he said.

As he tries to find work, Tetlow has an advantage over many other unemployed residents. The federal government has set aside money to provide training, job search help and reemployment services for those who have seen their jobs leave the country.

"I'm luckier than most people," he said. "But it's still tough out there."

Sandra Negron, a textile designer from Attleboro, was hardly surprised when word that she would be laid off came down on Jan. 16.

"I kind of saw it coming," she said. "I know a lot of people who have lost their jobs."

Negron, like Tetlow and Tavares, is part of a rapidly shrinking field, and is being forced to learn new skills to find a new, decent-paying job.

"In my field, I can't find anything," she said. "I'm not going to find a job paying what I was making before, without being retrained."

While she has experience working in an office, Negron said hasn't done it in a while and is looking forward to increasing her skill base.

For Margaret Pyron, a former cafeteria assistant in the Norton Public Schools, getting the news late last month that she was being laid off was a bit of a shock, given that public sector jobs often seem more secure than those in the private sector.

"I was a little surprised," she said. "Sometimes you get that false feeling that you're safer than other jobs."

While Pyron says she will miss her time spent at the schools, she has to rapidly change gears and find a new way to make ends meet.

"I miss the job, I miss the kids," she said. "But you have your own bills, you've got kids,"

As she begins to work her way through the unemployment system and starts her job search, Pyron is trying to remain optimistic in spite of the struggling employment data.

"I try to have a positive outlook," she said. "There are still jobs out there."