About 100 people interested in 24 job openings at Tyson Foods’ plant in Warren County were lined up at the Vicksburg WIN Job Center when the doors opened this morning, and in 90 minutes’ time, 900 names of applicants had been written on lists circulating among job-seekers.

Office manager Timothy Crudup said today’s number far exceeded the usual at the facility, and he said it is a sign of a bleak local jobs market.

“I’ve been here 11 years, and yeah, it’s more than last year, too,” he said.

Vicksburg police were called to the center, about two blocks from headquarters, after office workers arrived and stayed to control the sometimes-chaotic crowd for almost two hours.

Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said no arrests were logged and no injuries reported.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Donald Jordan of Vicksburg, one of several left wondering whether they’d be interviewed after a list of job-seekers was destroyed and new ones were started. “Half the people out here came all the way from Jackson. I’m out here since 4:30 in the morning.”

“I’ve been out here since 5 a.m.,” said Chris Johnson of Vicksburg, “They took the list to the back of the line.”

The jobs sought this morning were for manual labor and support positions advertised only at the plant, Crudup said. The jobs were not posted in the employment office or online, he said.

“We had no knowledge of it,” Crudup said, adding versions of at least 10 lists of job-seekers generated by 9 a.m. totaled 900 people. “It was our intent to do referrals where Tyson would let others know this was going on.”

The positions pay $8.60 an hour — U.S. minimum wage is $7.25 an hour — and involve straightening products on conveyor belts and handling 10- to 40-pound product cases at the plant, according to copies inside the job center. Calls to the plant’s Human Resources Department were not returned. The plant employs about 500.

Word of the jobs apparently spread beyond the plant through word of mouth. Some said they were told by company officials to show up as early as they could to apply.

“Two supervisors personally told me to come out here,” said Maurice Hodge, of Edwards, one of many who said they were out of a job. Hodge said he sought work on advice from his parole officer.

Unemployment in Warren County was 11.7 percent in September, up from 11 percent in August. Mississippi’s rate was 10.6 percent for the month, up half a percent. Figures for October have not been released.

Throughout October, 2,087 people visited the job center, and that number exceeded the applicants in all of September, Crudup said, though he did not have figures available today.