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U.S. Rep. John Duncan Jr. says that while the nation is worried about the increasing unemployment rate, he's also concerned with "under employment."

Speaking to the Alcoa Rotary Club Wednesday, Duncan said he's meeting more recent college graduates who can't find jobs in their field and are having to take restaurant jobs and other low-paying positions.

"Under employment is probably worse than unemployment," he said. "My advice to students is to major in something for the job prospects."

The Second District congressman said East Tennessee has been somewhat insulated from the economic downturn until the last few months, but the recent layoffs at ALCOA and other companies in the area have hurt. He's also concerned about the rising number of property foreclosure notices appearing in the newspaper.

Duncan, who prides himself on being one of the most conservative members of Congress, also spoke out against the massive government spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the bailouts of banks, General Motors and other big businesses.

"We're spending unbelievable amounts that we don't have," he said. "We used to say that we're hurting our children and grandchildren, but we're now hurting ourselves.

"It won't be long before we're not going to be able to pay all of our Social Security and Medicare, and all the things we have promised our own people."

Duncan called himself an unusual Republican in that he believes in national defense, but not "international defense."

"We're spending more than all the other countries in the world for defense," he said.

Duncan said after the 2001 terrorist attacks, he noticed that many government agencies started adding the word "security" to their programs to justify more funding. "We're more likely to be killed in a car wreck or struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist," he said. "We should stop funding programs that have "security" attached to them."

Duncan said the government's takeover of General Motors should have been handled as an ordinary bankruptcy, "hopefully with a fiscally conservative judge."