According to a report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the number of people and businesses who filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection rose 34 percent over the past year. Chapter 13 filings were up 12 percent, and Chapter 11 business bankruptcy filings grew by 30 percent.

By far, consumers accounted for the majority of debtors filing for bankruptcy. The total number of personal bankruptcy filings was up 28 percent for the year, although Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 business bankruptcies, as a group, rose by 28 percent over 2009.

The data further document a trend - bankruptcy filings overall have risen nearly to their levels in 2005 before the new federal bankruptcy law was passed. Although the 2005 law was intended to force more debtors to choose Chapter 13 bankruptcy instead of Chapter 7, about 73 percent of bankruptcy filings in the last fiscal quarter came under Chapter 7.

On a per capita basis, California ranked 8th in the number of bankruptcies filed in the period measured, but 6th in the number of Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Nevada had the highest total per capita filings, with 11.7 filings per 1,000 people in the state, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. Arizona had the steepest increase in total filings - up 69 percent.

David Jones, president of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies in Fairfax, Virginia, offered both foreclosures and unemployment as explanations in an interview with Reuters. "We're not anyway near through our housing situation, and are going to see more foreclosures, perhaps for another three years," he said. "The job situation is also serious. It's not just that people cannot find jobs, but many who have found jobs are finding them at lower wages."

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