Will they ever work again?

If you want to really get nervous about the economy, just look at the above chart. It's from the NYT's Catherine Rampell, who posts that the average length of unemployment during this recession has been a record-breaking 31 weeks - and that doesn't include people who want jobs but have given up looking for them. Statewide last month, there were 726,000 people who had been out of work more than six months - or one out of three unemployed Californians. Normally it doesn't work this way. Normally, people are out of a job for a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, and then they manage to get hired. But business owners are very reluctant to add positions - it could be because of tight credit or concerns about the economy or their own financial status. So the system gets clogged up. (I got into it during this morning's chat with KPCC's Steve Julian). Another explanation: Unlike previous downturns, when workers were laid off and then rehired as the economy improved, layoffs these days tend to be permanent. The Atlantic's Derek Thompson notes that permanent job losses account for more than 50 percent of the unemployed.

Getting these people back to work will require something more than companies returning to their pre-recession profitability. It will require new companies, new industries, new areas to invest. Twelve months ago, I would have pointed to green technology, but without a carbon price to advantage wind, solar and other alternative energies, I don't know that green jobs will thrive merely on the back of government subsidies and weatherization tax credits.

Rampell also notes that the longer someone is jobless the harder it becomes to avoid the stigma attached to being out for so long. And long-term unemployment has become part of the new normal - many economists expect L.A. unemployment to stay in double digits for at least another year, perhaps longer.