I'd put this Thread out there as a ho-de-ho but as will happen, it took a serious turn so 3 things:
(1) As I've said before, those unemployment figures are a bogus political construct, The actual figure (including those who are discouraged from looking any more, those discouraged from trying in the first place and those who have to be content with part-time work or other underemployment) is 150 % of the official figures.
(2) The longer one's unemployed, the harder it is to hook up, a sort of "blame-the-victim" mindset by employers. Here's more on that:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383516043639305.html
(3) There's been a marked uptick in the number of scams perpetrated on increasingly desperate jobseekers--phoney employment agencies demanding upfront payment, that kind of thing. DoL tries to keep up but is woefully short of enforcement funding and investigators.
I don't mean anything said here to hurt any of the good Brothers who are in this situation. Lord knows, they are discouraged enough.