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Zutina Ferdinand graduated from college last May with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. Since then, she's spent the past year looking for work.

“It's been exhausting, it's been hard, frustrating,” she said while getting assistance at the Employment Security Commission office. “It's financially hard. I've got my apartment; I've got bills and I've got student loans piling up and credit cards."

And Ferdinand has plenty of company.

The unemployment rate increase means 234,086 people across the state were out of work. That's up 32,462 people from March a year ago, when the unemployment rate was just 4.5 percent.

“There are still jobs in North Carolina,” explained Larry Parker, spokesman for the Employment Security Commission of N.C. “But I think the number of those [jobs] available [now] versus two or three years ago are slightly lower. It's a lot more difficult to get a job, but the jobs are still out there. If they look for it and they work for it, they can get a job right now.”

An undated photo of potential employees standing in an unemployment line.

“Certainly the economy has had an effect,” Parker continued. “Construction is down, manufacturing continues to be down in North Carolina and the financial sectors, to a degree, seem to be down a bit.”

Despite the challenges, determined job seekers, like Ferdinand, say they'll keep looking.

“I'm still trying,” she said with a smile. “I'm not going to give up. Whatever positions are out there, I'll go ahead and apply for it and pray and hope for the best that I will get one.”

The Employment Security Commission says the industries that are gaining jobs right now in our state are in professional and business services, educational and health services, and the leisure and hospitality industry.