To some, they’re nameless and faceless, but the nearly 39,000 DeKalb residents who make their way through the unemployment line daily were once your gym attendant, bus driver, and even your auto body technician.

They are people with marketable skills, but because of the pervasive economic recession, they find themselves in a sea of jobseekers – trying to stand out.

Gary Byron, 59, of Stone Mountain, is just one of 38,644 out-of-work residents in DeKalb, struggling to find a job.

The former bus driver lost his job with a small company that transports patients in February 2009 and has been jobhunting for a year. He says it’s difficult to find a job when there’s so much competition, and so few positions.

In December, DeKalb’s unemployment rate reached 10.1 percent, just behind the state’s rate of 10.3 percent. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 10 percent. In July last year, DeKalb’s unemployment rate reached 10.8 percent with 42,170 out of work.

In neighboring Rockdale County, the unemployment rate was 11.9 percent last month.

Byron said many of the employers he meets tell him they simply aren’t hiring, or they seem to prejudge him.

“When I come in they say this old man only has a few years before he retires,” he said Wednesday while visiting the DeKalb Career Center on Covington Highway in Decatur. “They don’t say it to your face because they would be liable, but you just feel it.”

Twenty-seven year old Jessica Murphy, of Chamblee has been out of work since December 2008. The former college admissions representative said living without a job has really been “scary.”

“I lost my house,” said Murphy, staring at the floor in the DeKalb Career Center on Covington Highway in Decatur on Thursday. “I lost everything.”

Sarah Reeves, 31, of Decatur, lost her graphics design job on Jan. 29.

She said the firm, which once employed 500 people and provided advertising to apartment complexes and real estate firms, lost business as the real estate industry tanked.

“My company had been having hard times,” said Reeves, who had been with the company for nine years. “This was the fourth round of layoffs, so the writing was on the wall.”

Unemployment benefits, which cap at $330 for 26 weeks, help but is not a lot to live on.

Byron said he had cut back on leisure spending and focus on life’s necessities.

“I need a hair cut and I can’t afford it,” he said. “Sometimes I want a steak and I can only afford a hotdog. I had to cut off the cable and hook the antenna back up.”

Ruby Bolden, 65, of Clarkston, admits when she’s job searching online it’s hard to stay focused on the positives.

She lost her job as a gym attendant at a Stone Mountain apartment complex in October when the property changed hands.

“They brought their own people in and I was out of a job,” she said Tuesday while filing her unemployment claim.

Bolden feels that older workers are at greater disadvantage in this economy.

“I’ve been looking for a while,” she said. “When you put that age up there, they don’t call you back.”

Charles Rice, 40, of Ellenwood, lost his landscaping job six months ago.

He said he gets lots of good job leads, but he believes his felony theft conviction causes some employers to shy away.

“I tell them I’m trying to change and I’m trying to be honest, and a lot of times they hold it against you,” Rice said. “With the economy the way it is, they can screen a lot of candidates out.”

Despite the pitfalls, he is optimistic he will find an employer that will give him a second chance.

“I know I’m a good candidate,” Rice said while searching for job leads at the career center. “I know if I stay positive, I’ll find something. God will make a way out of no way.”

After three consecutive layoffs, Jim Harris, 64, of Atlanta, holds little hope for the future.

An auto body technician for 37 years, he said things were good for a while.

“I worked for Nally Chevrolet, they closed,” Harris said. “I worked for Spalding-Lincoln-Mercury, they closed. I worked for Bill Heard and they closed up in December ‘08. I brought my tools home and I didn’t work all of ‘09.”

Harris, a Vietnam veteran with a Purple Heart, four Bronze Stars and other honors, said that given the number of jobseekers, and the state of the economy, he isn’t sure he will find work.

“We’ve never been in a day like this one,” he said.