Ministry of Social Development figures show there were 172 people in Oamaru on unemployment benefits at the end of December.
On Thursday, the plant's owner, Japanese giant the Sumitomo Corporation , announced it was selling the plant to Canterbury Spinners Ltd, a subsidiary of carpet manufacturer Godfrey Hirst. At a meeting with union officials yesterday, workers were told Sumitomo had made further ''enhancements'' to redundancy packages, after negotiations with the EPMU and First Union.
EPMU organiser John Gardner said both counselling services and a job-search programme would be available to employees.
Waitaki MP Jacqui Deans said Summit employees were ''very employable'' and Work and Income New Zealand was already prepared to help workers back into employment.
''The labour market is pretty good, so they are confident that they could assist people into finding other jobs or training opportunities.''
Work and Income regional labour market manager Emma Hamilton, of Dunedin, said it had been contacted by several employers yesterday looking for skilled staff after hearing the Summit news.
Various employers in Oamaru said they were looking for welders, fitters, tradespeople and labourers and there were ''a couple'' of manufacturing firms looking for staff, including one, which she did not want to name, that was looking for 30 staff. Work and Income had also taken calls from companies in Canterbury, Dunedin and Rakaia. The Canterbury Skills Hub also had 282 jobs available in Christchurch.
Mrs Deans said she had spoken to the plant's new owners and a minimum crew of about 20 would be kept on to maintain the plant while the operation was reviewed. After that process, Godfrey Hirst would be in a position to consider rehiring, but it was not known how many positions would be available.
Summit Wool Spinners financial director Ricky Hammond-Tooke said yesterday a closing date for the plant had not been finalised.
Mr Hammond-Tooke said the atmosphere in the plant yesterday was ''sombre''. ''Some people were upset last night, but I think they are coming to terms with it. It's going to be an unsettling time for the staff, their families, and I think Oamaru is generally going to be a bit unsettled until things become clearer.''
It is the second series of redundancies announced by the company, after 49 workers were laid off last June.
Some of Oamaru's other major employers said they thought there were limited job opportunities at present, but were sure some Summit workers could find work.
Whitestone Cheese chief executive Simon Berry said there were no positions vacant at the cheese factory, but positions could be available in the ''medium term''.
Alliance Group Pukeuri freezing works plant manager Geoff Proctor said the Pukeuri plant, which employed 900 people, was fully staffed for freezing workers, but there were vacancies for trades and skilled operators.
