Labor Force Statistic of the day

The number of people unemployed for 27+ weeks continues to rise. This chart from bls.gov shows that as of October, 2008 there are 2.2 million Americans that have been unemployed for more than half a year. We haven't seen that many out of work for so long since 1983.

It's also interesting to note how quickly the cycle spikes up, and how slowly it decays.