Los Angeles County reported unemployment numbers of 10.9 percent in February. Each job-seeking story is different, yet they all have a common thread: it's tough to find a job these days.

In all his 34 years of working as a gardener and a cook in Los Angeles, Luis Serrano never learned how to use a computer. He never thought typing and web surfing skills would come in handy -- until two months ago, when he lost his job as a chef.

Serrano, 52, cannot afford to buy a computer, and his job hunt hits brick walls when companies require people to apply online and do not accept paper applications.

"That was my first obstacle," Serrano said.

Three days a week, every week, Serrano takes the bus from Hollywood to the Worksource at Wilshire Boulevard and Ardmore Avenue. He and dozens of other people take advantage of free public computer labs, résumé-building advice and other job training programs.

The federal government passed the Workforce Investment Act in 1998 to annually allocate money to nationwide Worksource centers. There are 18 centers in the Los Angeles area. In 2008, the Wilshire-Metro center received $981,127 for adult and youth job services.

Mary Bartlett, an instructor at the Wilshire-Metro Worksource and the East Los Angeles Occupational Center, helped Serrano open his first e-mail account. She supervises four-hour computer lab sessions every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

"This is my goal, to learn more and more about computers," Serrano said.

Serrano, a robust man with a full moustache, used to be a chef at the upscale Intercontinental Hotel in Century City.

Now he is applying to be a cook or a laundry attendant in the hotel industry, nothing too strenuous. Throat and knee problems prevent him from doing laborious maintenance jobs. When he walks, he takes short, cumbersome strides, carefully shifting his heavy weight from leg to leg to avoid bending his knees.

But Serrano's family cannot afford to live without his share of the income for too long. His wife Blanca, a housekeeper who is paid $12 per hour, and daughter Janet, a nurse assistant for teenagers with disabilities, contribute to the $1,000 monthly rent. But Serrano's unemployment insurance of $243 is less than half of what his weekly salary used to be.

Serrano misses the simplicity of life in La Libertad, El Salvador, where money is not a central part of survival.

There his family ran a farm with pigs and cows and grew their own vegetables. Before going to school, he used to walk 30 minutes to a river to draw a bucket of fresh water. Sometimes he would fly his handmade rectangular kite on the beach.

When he was 18, Serrano and his mother moved to the United States. He learned English by watching cartoons, taking classes, reading billboards and listening to classic 70s rock.

He takes out his silver CD player and pops the lid open: Chicago's greatest hits. He has more than 500 CDs at home, but he carries his favorites of Journey and Poncho Sanchez in his black windbreaker.

"This goes wherever I go," said Serrano, tucking the CD player back into the pocket of his jacket.

He now lives in Hollywood near Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue. He does not have set plans for retirement, but he is thinking about it.

"I need to be patient. I was used to it, to work. Now that I'm not working, I don't know what to do," Serrano said.

Megan Menjou wants to change Hollywood. She has a plan, a desire and a dream. Now she just needs a chance.

Megan Menjou, 24, graduated from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California with a degree in Critical Studies last December, finishing off two and a half years at the school as a transfer student from El Camino College. 

"I knew it would be hard to find a job in the [film] industry as a woman, but as a girl and recent grad, it's harder," said Menjou, who is in the middle of a job hunt. 

At this point, Menjou estimates she has applied for 35 jobs in her area of interest and 15 others unrelated to her field. Only two companies have given her interviews. 

"You start to wonder, 'Is it the economy or is it me?'" said Menjou.

With the economy down and layoffs becoming increasingly more common, recent college graduates are finding it difficult to get a job in the field they studied. The film industry is notoriously competitive and cutthroat, and getting a production job is all about "who you know," as Menjou put it. 

Menjou is willing to start from the rock bottom to make it in the industry. She has even interviewed for a temp position as an executive assistant to a CEO of a small production company. 

"I really wonder if HR people are doing their job," Menjou proclaims, with a dry laugh. "I feel as if I was set up for humiliation," she says about the interview.  

The CEO, who Menjou preferred not to name, was hostile, angry and inconsiderate of her unemployed status, saying a USC graduate should not be having this much trouble finding a job. 

"You needed a huge ego to survive that interview," Menjou said. 

Despite this experience, Menjou remains optimistic for the time being. She clings to her dream to one day start a production company specifically for women. 

"My vision of female cinema is probably not bankable, but I don't care," said Menjou. 

Coming from a university with an alumni network as highly touted as USC's, Menjou expected to have a job by now. She says if she is still unemployed by May when she has to start paying back loans, she will strongly consider returning to school for another term, just to give herself more time. 

The experience as a whole has brought Menjou down to earth about the real world. At first she felt that her résumé should be on top of the pile because of USC's prestige. Now, she's just hoping to get through the front door of a production office at all.  

Tania Khadder, a former news show producer for Current TV, recalls that fateful November day. 

"I went into work assuming everything was fine and by 11:30 a.m., I was outside and wondering what I was going to do," she said. "They just called us in to meet with HR. They told us they were reorganizing the network and canceling the news show."

Khadder and 59 others got canned.  

Although it was nearly three months ago, Khadder acknowledges she is still wrestling with her status.

"It's hard because it's kind of a roller coaster -- some days I feel fine about it and some days I am depressed," she said. "The loneliness is the hardest part. For young professionals like myself, you realize your whole social life is built around your workplace." 

Khadder and an unemployed friend, John Henion, a former documentary filmmaker turned blogger, began the idea for Unemploymentality, a Web site to share unemployment stories via online messages about how to cope.

"When you lose your job, you go through an identity crisis," Khadder said. "You don't realize that work defines you so much. I didn't know what direction I wanted to go in. I knew I liked writing but I wasn't feeling very inspired."

"We decided we should channel our feelings into something more constructive," she said. "If anything, just to do something fun. We didn't know if anything was going to come out of it."

Three weeks after she was fired, Unemploymentality.com was born. 

When she's not busy scouring online job posts and applying to jobs, the San Francisco resident, whose blog draws about 1,000 to 2,000 hits daily, spends her free time doing occasional freelance writing assignments and spending more time with family members who live nearby.

"People send me e-mails telling me they're totally loosing faith and that there's no point in trying, but there is a point," Khadder insisted defiantly. "There are people getting jobs even now -- you just have to find a way to differentiate yourself."

"Read the blog," she laughed. "We try to make light of the situation as much as possible, because otherwise it's just too depressing. And if we can help people stay positive I think we've done something good."

In addition to her newfound community, the blog has provided Khadder with some professional contacts. However, the scrutiny of possible employers means she cannot be as open with her readers as she would like.

"If I have a job interview, I am going to want to talk about it on the blog," she said. "After all, the whole point is to share stories and be honest, but there needs to be a careful balance. I think it's possible to reveal enough that people feel they can relate to you on a personal level yet not jeopardize job opportunities." 

If not job opportunities, Khadder hoped the blog could garner other personal benefits. 

"If we could make money off of it, that would be great," she said. "We'll see what happens."