Many of the lost jobs – in construction, finance, and outsourced manufacturing and services – are gone forever, and recent studies suggest that a quarter of US jobs can be fully outsourced over time to other countries. Thus, a growing proportion of the workforce – often below the radar screen of official statistics – is losing hope of finding gainful employment, while the unemployment rate (especially for poor, unskilled workers) will remain high for a much longer period of time than in previous recessions.
建筑业、金融业和外包制造与服务业中所流失的许多工作岗位是永久性丧失，最近的一些研究显示，随着时间的推移，美国有四分之一的工作岗位可能会完全转移到国外。这样一来，劳动大军中就会有越来越多的人再也无法找到收入较高的工作，失业率（尤其是贫困、无技能的劳动者的失业率）将居高不下，比从前历次衰退都拖得久——而这一部分人往往是被官方统计口径忽略掉的。