Nearly 30 Percent of Jobless Americans Plagued by Long-Term Unemployment — Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative Finds 3.9 Million Out of Work For at Least a Year

At Los Angeles Times, "Long-term unemployment affects nearly 30% of jobless Americans":

Nearly 30% of jobless Americans have been out of work for at least a year, according to the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative report on the first quarter.

The report found that of the 13.3 million unemployed workers in the country, 3.9 million had been jobless for all or most of 2011. That's more people than live in Oregon.

That 29.5% long-term unemployment rate is slightly off the peak reached in the third quarter of last year, when 31.8% of jobless Americans were out of work for a year. But the current rate is still more than triple the 9.5% from the beginning of the recession.

"The longer workers remain unemployed, the more likely they may lose skills and professional contacts, making workforce reentry even more challenging," researchers wrote in the Pew report. "Skill erosion may lead to lower future income for individuals and, for the economy as a whole, lower productivity and lost output."

Older workers were more affected than most, with nearly 44% of former employees older than 55 out of work for longer than a year. Compare that to 21.4% of workers between 20 and 24 in the same boat.

Way to go, Baracky!

PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Ross, "The Obama Depression Series Redux."