Jul. 3--Unemployment is worsening, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In June, the nation's unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent, the highest in 26 years.

The report was a setback after four consecutive months of small, but improving unemployment figures for the nation.

The bureau said Maryland's jobless rate hit 7.2 percent in June, up from 4.1 percent on year earlier.

Local figures, always a month behind in data collection, showed Frederick County at 6.3 percent in May, up from 5.8 percent in April. That equated to 116,391 Frederick County residents without jobs in May.

Last month, Frederick County Workforce Services was seeing more than 150 people a day seeking re-employment and retraining opportunities, director Laurie Holden said.

Holden said while jobs are available, competition is fierce and more people are staying on unemployment insurance longer, sometimes exhausting their claims. Others have stopped looking for work or may not be eligible for unemployment insurance, Holden said. These include the self-employed, returning homemakers and retirees, those recovering from disability and graduates.

The latter group, those coming out with a bachelor's degree, may well find themselves working in a job that doesn't require a degree, if they can find a job at all.

A study by the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University, found more than half of graduates were working in jobs that didn't require a degree. That was down 54 percent from a similar study a year ago.

"I've never seen it this low and we've been analyzing this stuff for over 20 years," said center director Andrew Sum in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers. Academics call this "mal-employment," and the trend is expected to continue.

A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed businesses intend to hire 22 percent fewer graduates for entry-level positions this year.

The Economic Policy Institute said the entire growth in jobs over the past nine years has been wiped out. The labor force has grown, but there are fewer jobs today than in 2000. The jobless crisis is stalling much of the economic recovery being pushed by the Obama administration, institute experts said.

In comparison to Frederick County's rate for May, Montgomery County had 5.2 percent unemployment, up from 4.8 percent in April; Washington County, 10.1 percent, up from 9.7 percent in April; and Carroll County had 6.5 percent, up from 5.9 percent in April.

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