While the national unemployment rate is the lowest since 2008, surveys find that roughly one in eight people are underemployed and are still searching for a well-paying jobs. There is good news for one of the biggest job drivers in the state of Maryland: the Port of Baltimore. Companies coming to the U.S. from across the world get their best deal at the Port of Baltimore, whose productivity is ranked as best in the nation by the Journal of Commerce. “For the Port of Baltimore to say to the world, and container companies, we have infrastructure to handle your ships today, right now, it’s huge for us,” Maryland Port Administration spokesman Richard Scher said. The Port of Baltimore handles 71 containers per hour, per berth, a task made possible only with the help of 13,000 employees. Scher said earning the title as America's fastest port will help attract new business. “There's a lot of room for growth,” Scher said. “In fact, our Seagirt Marine terminal, our primary container facility, is only 60 percent full right now, so there's plenty of room to grow,” Scher said. Scher said that growth will lead to additional jobs for the port. The potential for more jobs comes from more ships coming through the expanded Panama Canal and ships destined for the upcoming privately owned port, Tradepoint Atlantic, which is under construction at the old Bethlehem Steel site in Sparrows Point. “We're really confident we're going to see 10,000 direct jobs within next 10 years and another 7,000 indirect jobs,” Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said. Kamenetz met Wednesday with project planners from Tradepoint Atlantic. He said he is excited that three major tenants have already signed on, which will bring 3,000 jobs to the area. "(It’s) a $3 billion investment that will provide decent wages for the next generation of jobs,” Kamenetz said. In addition to jobs, the Port of Baltimore now generates $310 million in state and local taxes.