U.S. News: Job Search Stretches Past a Year for Millions
More than one in three of the unemployed workers in several of the largest U.S. states have been out of a job for more than a full year.</br></br>Across the country, long periods of unemployment have been more prevalent recently than during previous recoveries going back to the 1940s.</br></br>During 2010, long-term unemployment was disproportionately a problem in New Jersey, Georgia, Michigan, South Carolina, North Carolina, Illinois and Florida, according to Labor Department data expected to be released later this month.</br></br>Nationally, 30% of the unemployed, or 4.4 million job seekers, were out of work for more than a year in June 2011, up from 29% of the unemployed in June 2010.</br></br>"I don't want us to say this is the new normal and move on," said Betsey Stevenson, the Labor Department's chief economist. "It really is going to take a concentrated effort of employers to give people a chance who haven't worked in a while."