Job fair attracts more than 1,000 hopefuls

Getting from one end of the Anne Arundel Community College gym to the other meant running a shoulder-to-shoulder obstacle course Thursday.

About 1,500 job seekers surfed the crowds of other unemployed and underemployed residents at a job fair in Arnold, bumping into booths and tables, negotiating stepping room and constantly asking the stranger in front, "Are you in a line?"

As the nation trudges deeper into a recession, more local residents are finding themselves at the back of a long line at yet another recruiter's booth. Last month, the federal Labor Department reported that unemployment had risen across the...