Fewer Layoffs Reported, While Unemployed Struggle to Re-Enter Job Market

If you're looking for evidence that the economy is solidifying people into one of two camps, look no further than the opening paragraphs of an AP piece on Yahoo! Finance today:

"The U.S. labor force has been split into two groups: the relieved and the desperate.

If you have a job, you can exhale; you're less likely to lose it than at any point in at least 14 years.

If you're unemployed? Good luck. Finding a job remains a struggle 20 months after the recession technically ended. Employers won't likely step up hiring until they feel more confident about the economy."

The rest of the piece has a bunch of other statistics that are equally reassuring or frightening (depending on which camp you fall in), but the message really doesn't get much clearer than those opening sentences.

Well...except for one thing: apparently long-term unemployment is now such a problem that the Labor Department is having to change how it measures it. While previously the department only tracked it up to two years, it is now extending that to five.

Yup, you did read that right: five years.But at least if you have a job, the chances are you'll be keeping it.

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