As unemployment rates rise, so do fears of a tight summertime job market. New figures from the South Dakota Labor Department showed that unemployment in South Dakota's largest cities rose again in March, with Yankton reporting 7.9 percent and Mitchell 6.7 percent. The department has checked with its local offices about the summer job scenario.

"Contrary to prior years, preliminary indications for summer employment in 2009 can best be described as uncertain and possibly gloomy," according to an article in the Department of Labor's monthly bulletin. "Hopefully, with federal stimulus funds, this will not be the case."

A "wait and see" approach is causing many retail, food and other service industries that normally would be actively seeking workers to hold off for now, said Jean Anderson, manager of the Mitchell office.

Anderson said she hopes economic stimulus projects will create some work but fears "students may find themselves competing with primary laid-off wage earners for jobs that would otherwise be available to them."

"Each year," she said in the report, "our recommendation is to start searching early, to be open and flexible to the type of jobs that may be available and to do everything one can to present a positive first impression."

Since December, Mitchell has seen hundreds of layoffs, with the biggest single round coming in mid-March, when Trail King laid off 75 people.

Mitchell's 6.7 percent unemployment rate in March was by far its highest since the Department of Labor began reporting city-specific numbers in 2006. It was less than 3 percent for 20 consecutive months leading up to December, when it rose to 3.9 percent on its way to 6.4 percent in January.

The state's unemployment rate of 5.4 percent is its highest since 1986.

Buffalo County reported a 23 percent unemployment rate in March. Brookings and Hand counties had the lowest rates, 3.3 percent.