Paragon Printing has gone into administration and the fate of 145 workers at its Wodonga plant is unclear, although a number of those who have casual positions have already been told they are no longer wanted.

Then yesterday Lavington gearbox manufacturer DSI stood down 170 casual employees after running into problems with its major customer Korean vehicle manufacturer Ssangyong which has financial difficulties.

The root causes for the predicaments faced by each company are very different but the impact on the workers at each factory is similar.

They are all left on edge and face their life being put on hold while they see if the situation will change.

In the Paragon case, they should know more next Tuesday when the administrator is due to hold creditor meetings for the various companies tied up with the printing enterprise and provide a financial picture which will hopefully indicate whether it remains a viable business.

For DSI workers, who were hired on the basis of work possibly only lasting three to four months, the situation is more precarious.

They may know within a day or have to wait weeks to see if the green light clicks on for production to resume as the picture in Korea becomes clearer.

All this comes at a time when employment is meant to be improving in Australia as the country powers up following the global downturn.

Whether that is a realistic assessment or not is still in doubt, based on the official unemployment figures released yesterday.

They showed the jobless rate at 5.3 per cent in February, up from 5.2 per cent in January.

Employment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard described it as a steady result.

Of course statistics mean little in isolation; it’s only when you look behind them and realise the financial impact and uncertainty generated by joblessness that you begin to get a genuine feel for what it means to be without work.

Sadly it is the situation looming for Paragon and DSI workers.

We can only hope things turn around and a more prosperous future awaits.

At least there is some good economic news for the Border today with food manufacturer Vitasoy announcing an $18 million expansion of its Baranduda factory.

The work will double the soy milk plant’s capacity and reinforces strong demand for their drinks.

The company’s general manager said there was likely to be another shift added with five jobs resulting.

It might not mean a massive influx of work but it is certainly welcome news at this time.