Finding and Keeping a Job Can be Tough for Long-Term Unemployed

In a post yesterday we referenced the long-term unemployed in Oregon. Today, a story from the Washington Post reports on the struggle for those unemployed for six months or more to find and keep jobs. 

The Post article says that new research shows roughly one-fourth of job seekers out of work for at least six months gained employment within a few months of taking part in a study. A year later though, more than one-third of that group was either unemployed again, or completely out of the labor force.

The Brookings Institution studied the long-term unemployed from 2008 to 2013, and found that in a given month, about 36 percent of those workers were in a job 15 months later. Their findings also show that 11 percent were in steady, full-time jobs. ​​

The Washington Post article reports that some economists argue that workers’ skills deteriorate during long spells of joblessness, worsening job prospects. Others counter that desperate workers are accepting jobs that are unstable or a poor match for their abilities, often for less money than they were making before.