Down and Out: Measuring Long-Term Hardship in the Labor Market

The Center for Economic and Policy Research authored this report with support from the Ford Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation. More than 40 percent of the unemployed in 2011 had been unemployed for six months or longer. In this paper, authors provide an overview of long-term joblessness by race, gender, education, and age. Additionally, authors use the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “U-6” alternative unemployment rate, which includes discouraged workers, those marginally attached to the labor market, and those who are part-time in the labor market due to economic reasons.