The hard-hit Martinsville area is losing hundreds more jobs, and this time it is from an employer that came there less than seven years ago. As News/Talk 960’s Evan Jones reports, no one seems to have seen this coming.

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Star Tek made big news in 2004, when Governor Warner announced the company would open a technical support and customer care center in Henry County. More than 600 people now work there, but by late July that number will be zero when Star Tek closes down its Collinsville operation.  The company says 631 jobs will be lost.

The Henry County-Martinsville jobless rate was 12.5%  in March, and in Martinsville alone, it is almost 18%,  already highest in the state — and that is before this latest announcement is factored in.