“There’s always something different, like the hurricane, that’s making the price of living go up.”

The national unemployment rate has skyrocketed by 1.4 percent during the past year and the number of unemployed persons now stands at about 9.4 million.

For students, declining economic conditions require workers to have more skills in order to find jobs.

“I think the more technical qualifications you have, the better off you are,” said Charles Ballard, an MSU economics professor.

“Regardless of what you’re majoring in, you have to knock on doors and get your résumé out there.”

A diminished market for labor beginning in 2007 has led to the sharp increase in unemployment, said Jim Borbely, economist for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The labor market weakened in the second half of 2007, and we’ve been seeing a clear upward trend in the unemployment rate,” Borbely said. “Generally we’re seeing an increase in the number of people who’ve lost their jobs, while before that it was a weak labor market that hurt students just out of school from finding jobs.”

In Michigan, the unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent in July, which is significantly higher than the national rate, said Bruce Weaver, an economic analyst for the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth.

“The U.S. and Michigan have moved in a somewhat similar fashion over the last year,” Weaver said.

“The primary reason Michigan is higher is that we’ve been much more heavily impacted by the manufacturing industry.”

In spite of Michigan’s slumping automotive sales, Ballard said he doesn’t think the economy has reached rock bottom yet.

“I’m hopeful that we’re getting close to the bottom, but forecasts have shown that it’ll be getting worse for the next year or so,” he said.

2010 might be the year Michigan stages a turnaround if forecasts are accurate, Ballard said.

“It depends on how the national economy does. If it sinks, that would hurt us,” he said.