Unemployment in Northwest Lower Michigan jumped half a percent last month to 13.6 percent.
About 22,000 people were looking for jobs in the region in June.
The director of Northwest Michigan Works, Jan Warren, says 10 openings at the Sara Lee plant in Traverse City drew more than 700 applicants in two days.
"People are certainly desperate, doing whatever they can to get a job, even knowing they are competing with hundreds of people for a handful of jobs," Warren says.
Other regions saw larger jumps in unemployment, with Northern Michigan likely buoyed by summer jobs.
Leelanau and Mackinac counties had the best jobless rates in the state, with unemployment at less than 10 percent.
The unemployment rate in Mackinac County dropped to six percent last month, after a high this winter of well above 20 percent.
But Wexford County is one of the hardest hit counties, where nearly one-in-five workers is in need of a job.
The state average climbed above 15 percent.
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