Pasadena, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/04/2010 -- Ryla, one of the biggest call-center operations in Georgia has decided to hire 1,400 workers within the next few days.

The Kennesaw-based company has said that some of its new workers could start working as soon as November 2. Most of the positions are temporary and the workers will be helping other workers of an unnamed client to enroll in a healthcare plan. The remaining call center workers will be doing federal work for another client. The average wage will be $10 per hour.

Georgia has a 10 percent unemployment rate, with 236,600 people (50.7 percent) of the state’s 466,000 jobless workers classified as being long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more). Georgia’s Department of Labor is trying to help the jobless by organizing job fairs across the state. The last one was held on October 28 in Savannah.

Speaking on Georgia’s unemployment scenario, CEO A. Harrison Barnes of Hound says that the call-center jobs in Ryla are an example of the new kind of customer service jobs that are coming to smaller towns. “Call-center jobs today, especially in America are getting sophisticated. It isn’t just cold calling anymore. Businesses are outsourcing back office functions.” Hound has also been able to find over 13,000 jobs in Georgia. About 4,000 jobs are in Atlanta and the two categories with the highest number of openings are that of managers and nurses.