From February to May, businesses hired about 4.5 million new workers who had been unemployed for eight weeks or longer, enticed by billions in tax credits, according to a report released this morning by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Those employers are eligible for tax exemptions and credits worth up to $8.5 billion under the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, which President Obama signed in March.

Treasury chief economist Alan B. Krueger released the report today in Sanford, where he visited a yarn factory that Parkdale Mills recently reopened. The company has hired about 30 workers at the plant so far and expects to add more.

"This new tax credit provided a powerful incentive to grow our business and was a major factor in our decision to re-open the plant in Sanford," said Parkdale CEO Andy Warlick, in a prepared statement.

Hanesbrands, maker of underwear and other apparel, announced today that it is selling its yarn manufacturing business and closing a plant in Sanford that employs 150 people.

Parkdale Mills, a yarn manufacturer based in Gastonia, will buy three of Hanesbrands four yarn production plants by the end of the year. Parkdale will then provide Hanesbrands with yarn for its Western Hemisphere operations.

Hanesbrands said it is ceasing production at the Sanford plant immediately because Parkdale does not need the facility’s production.

By the end of the year Hanesbrands also will close a cotton warehouse in Advance, N.C. and a yard warehouse in Clemmons, N.C. The two facilities employ a combined 25 people.

Hanesbrands said it expects to save $100 million by outsourcing its yard production.

The company said employees affected by the closings will receive severance and some job transition assistance.

The Sanford plant is in Lee County, where the unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in July. The statewide unemployment rate was 11.1 percent in July.