The good news from last week's job report is that the U.S. unemployment rate—now at 5.5 percent—is at the lowest level since May 2008. (Some optimistic forecasters are even predicting that it might continue to fall to below 4 percent.)
However, it's important to look at another measure, the length of unemployment, for a variety of reasons. Employers discriminate against candidates with periods of unemployment lasting longer than six months: Studies have shown that workers who have big gaps on their resumes are less likely to get called back. Long-term unemployment has also been shown to have negative health effects, including increased stress and depression. All of this adds up to discouraged job-seekers: About a third of them give up the search. Long-term unemployment became a big issue during the Great Recession, with the average length of unemployment reaching a historic high of 40 weeks in 2011—a length well above anything that's been seen in the past 65 years. That number has since dropped down to around 30 weeks.
[For more of this story, written by Bouree Lam, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/bus...e-reimagined/387409/]
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