Speaking at a congressional hearing recently, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a point that highlights how serious the problem of unemployment in the United States has become.
It isn’t just that millions of Americans are either unemployed or “underemployed” — meaning they cannot get more than part-time jobs. Neither is it just that millions of others have given up the job search in frustration — and therefore aren’t even counted in the official unemployment figure.
All those circumstances are horrible, of course — particularly if you or a loved one is the one who cannot find work. Unemployment means it is hard to pay the bills, and many Americans have been forced into foreclosure after being laid off.
But what makes current high joblessness even worse is how long it has continued. As Bernanke noted, nearly half of America’s unemployed have been out of work for more than six months!
That level of long-term unemployment has not occurred in the United States since around the time of World War II — more than six decades ago.