JOHNSTON COUNTY — Rosemarie Anderson ran her own painting business for almost 20 years. But when job orders faltered, she had to find new work fast. Now she is one of about 10 temporary staffers at Johnston County Industries.

“It’s good for a person to go into a company as a temporary,” said Anderson, who has been at JCI for almost three months. “You can get the feeling if you want to work there.”

The statewide jobless rate hit 10.8 percent last month, but some companies have continued to take on workers through temporary staffing agencies.

“Some companies, as a means of saving, use temps instead of hiring permanently,” said Kim Mitchell McCullers, president of Mitchell Temporary Services in Smithfield. “That’s what happens during tough times, and that’s what is happening now.” But with higher unemployment has come more demand for the temp jobs.

The result has been stiff competition, especially for jobs where workers can be easily replaced.

“Right now companies are looking for the cream of the crop, the best that we can find,” said Debbie Greer, president of The Greer Group in Raleigh.

Mitchell McCullers said her company has seen double the normal number of applicants. Greer said her company’s traffic had also doubled but that the number of available jobs had fallen by about 65 percent.

Greer, whose company runs job fairs around Johnston County, said many of her new applicants have been professionals from companies like IBM. “We have a lot of overqualified people,” she said.

Her company has a contract in Micro and Smithfield for about 40 warehouse jobs. Many temp jobs, Greer said, are in manufacturing plants and warehouses.

Nelson Rose is manager of the Employment Security Commission office in Smithfield. He said job hunters have recently found the most success with staffing agencies and temp jobs.

“Job opportunities are limited, and most people are going through either staffing agencies or temp agencies,” Rose said. The office has had about 2,800 visitors a month this year, a mix of people looking for jobs and filing for unemployment.

Mitchell McCullers said employers do not hesitate to ask for new temps from the deep labor pool. “If they mess up and don’t abide by attendance, they’ll call us and get another one because we have so many good apps out there,” she said.

Still, temporary workers can make themselves valuable to a company.

Anderson said she already feels successful at her temporary job and has even advanced within the company. “It’s nice knowing you have a paycheck and don’t have to go out and find work,” she said.