"I mean, how many times have I heard 'we're frozen,' there's no hiring, nothing new, no applications, no nothing," Kaley Graham says.

The number of people fighting to find a job is once again on the rise. Nationally, unemployment spiked to 9.5% Thursday. But in Lee County, it's even worse: 12.4%.

"Where to look? Where to go? I mean, where do you start?" Graham says. "I don't know where to start."

Overwhelmed and unemployed, Kaley Graham says she needs to work. Just three months ago the 17-year-old was diagnosed with cancer.

"It's just like, when it rains it pours," she says. "It's just one thing after another and I just want things to work out."

The scar stretching across her neck marks emergency surgery to remove her thyroid. But with no job and no insurance, her medical bills are stacking up.

"I've gotten bills $40,000 here, $50,000 there -- outrageous amounts," Graham says.

Kaley can't rely on her mom for help either. She too is unemployed.

"It's like it's so depressing and devastating that you want to cry all the time," Lou Graham says.

Instead, the two are being proactive using the Career and Service Center to job hunt, refresh resumes, and look for government assistance.

The center says the number of people on long-term unemployment is on the rise. Kaley and her mom are just two of the 34,000 people in Lee County who don't have a job.

"At 12.4%, that's a historic high for us," Barbara Hartman, spokeswoman for the center, says.

But in reality, the number of unemployed is likely closer to 40,000.

"The numbers only reflect those who were looking for work within the last four weeks of the survey," Hartman says.

Hartman says many people have given up the search or taken a hiatus because they can't find anything. Those people are not included in the new unemployment figures.

"It's where you are right now, and right now it's hard," Kaley Graham says. "It's very hard."

Hartman says there is a bright spot ahead. The national census will soon set up shop here in Fort Myers to hire management positions. She also says once the tourist season returns, we should see a bump up in new hires.