When Buchanan County announced three clerk vacancies at the Courthouse on July 1, Circuit Clerk Mary Beattie expected she would get a good number of applications. But not 600.

As state data revealed that the St. Joseph area unemployment rate had risen in June to its highest level in a quarter-century, a desire for security has taken hold. Human resource directors say they are seeing applicants who want stable work with benefits.

"I don't know if it's desperation right now, but they would all really like a job," Ms. Beattie said Wednesday afternoon, in the midst of interviews for two full-time and one part-time clerk positions. "I just talked with a girl who said the job market out there is very slim, that they've got a lot of part-time jobs, but not a lot of pay and no benefits."

St. Joseph's area unemployment rate increased to 8.7 percent in June, up from 8 percent in May. A total of 6,066 people were unemployed, out of a labor force of 69,797, the Missouri Department of Economic Development reported.

The St. Joseph statistical metro area includes Andrew, Buchanan and DeKalb counties in Missouri, and Doniphan County in Kansas.

Meanwhile, the jobless rates in Missouri and nationally are heading toward double figures - rising in June to 9.3 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.

In key industries - manufacturing, financial services and retail - layoffs were greatest in June. As a result, there has been an increasing shift toward careers in high-demand fields, such as health care.

At Hillyard Technical Center, enrollment is sparse in construction and manufacturing programs, but classes in nursing, radiology, surgical technology and dental hygiene classes are full, Director Regina Briggs said.

The demand this year has been so high that Hillyard has added additional prerequisite classes for students who want to get into the health programs next year, Ms. Briggs said. "Some are coming out of high school, but more and more this summer we're seeing people who have been laid off," she said.

At Altec Industries, a boom truck manufacturer that is the fourth largest employer in St. Joseph, workers are staying put in hopes that business picks up later this year. Human Resource Manager Rick Gronniger said Altec may begin hiring again by mid-2010, at the earliest.

Jacob Clark, 20, of Savannah, Mo., had been laid off from an answering service last November and found temporary work in June. Each day now, he sits on the side of a gravel road near King City, Mo., and measures air quality as part of a lawsuit by farmers.

"It's temporary stuff. It's hard to get anything permanent," he said. "Right now, staffing services are the way to go."

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.