"5% unemployment today is worse than 5% unemployment 10-15 years ago,"

Why the job market is worse than you think | By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer | January 31 2008: 3:16 PM EST

An unemployment rate of 5% is low by historic standards. But the number of people out of work for long stretches is rising dramatically.
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But the jobs numbers may be even worse than they first appear. That's because the number of Americans who have been out of work for six months or longer is on the rise.

Harder to find a new job The number of long-term unemployed stood at a seasonally-adjusted 1.3 million in December, up about 22 percent from year-earlier levels. The full-year average for 2007 was 1.2 million long-term unemployed, nearly double the reading for 2000 -- just before the last recession.

For all of 2007, about 17.6% of those who were unemployed had been out of work six months or more. That compares to only 11.4% who were long-term unemployed in 2000.

"You have to understand that 5% unemployment today is worse than 5% unemployment 10-15 years ago," said Jason Furman, senior fellow, Brookings Institution. ...