http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/04/us/AP-US-Economy-101-Unemployment-by-the-Numbers.html?_r=2
Within the vast pool of 15.4 million unemployed workers, a split is emerging: The number of long-term jobless -- those out of work six months or longer -- is growing, while the number of short-term unemployed is declining.
The trend highlights a considerable challenge for the economy and policymakers: finding a way for the millions of Americans laid off last fall and early this year to get back to work.
The data, buried in Friday's unemployment report, are stark: The number of Americans out of work for 27 weeks or more reached 5.9 million last month, the most on records dating from 1948. That's 18 percent more than just three months ago, when the total was just below 5 million.
The tally of those out of work for 14 weeks or less, however, has dropped to 6.3 million from 7.1 million in August, a decline of about 11 percent.
Looking at it another way, the long-term jobless now make up 38.3 percent of the unemployed population, not that far from the 41.1 percent accounted for by those out of work for 14 weeks or less. (The rest are in the 15-to-26 weeks bracket.)
That's a sharp change from August, when the short-term unemployed made up nearly half the total, while the longer-term jobless were only a third.
In some ways, the dichotomy is good news, in that it reflects a slowdown in layoffs. The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut a net total of 11,000 jobs in November, down from 111,000 the previous month. The unemployment rate dropped
