The two months of improvements in unemployment numbers that excited county job market experts this spring might have been just a blip on the radar.

Last month 6.5 percent of the county's work force was out of work, according to the state's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation statistics.

And though the labor market has grown countywide by about 1,000 more job positions since three months ago, the number of unemployed county residents is almost exactly the same as it was in February.

Anne Arundel isn't alone in the relapse. Throughout Maryland, the unemployment rate advanced to 7.2 percent in May from...