By Jackie Simmonds, NEJS Blog Editor

A new study by the Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative, released in April 2010, provides the most updated view of the impact of unemployment in this country not only to the job seeker but to the Federal government.  It calculates the percentage of people who have been unemployed for a year or more, as well as illustrating the extent of the country’s long-term unemployment problem and its impact on the nation’s fiscal condition.  While the every day grind of trying to find a job may give you a shockingly real litmus test of the state of the market, it never hurts to get the official picture and continue to monitor the changes.  After all this  issue impacts you on a daily basis and these studies impact future relief initiatives for the unemployed.

The government defines “long-term unemployment” as a jobless period of six months or longer. In March 2010, over 44% of unemployed Americans met or exceeded that definition making this the highest rate since World War II. To put it into perspective, in the last severe recession during the early 1980s, the percentage of workers unemployed for six months or longer peaked at 26 percent in 1983.

The Bureau of Labor statistics reports that the overall unemployment rate was 9.7% in March 2010. This means there were about 15 million people who were actively searching for employment.  In February 2010, 13 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rates higher than 10%, » Read more: State of the Market: The High Cost of Long-Term Unemployment