Scary piece by Clive Crook in the FT noting how the long-term unemployed share of total unemployment is unusually high by historical standards--almost 5m out for 6 months or longer. They account for something like half the unemployed right now, also something not seen in decades.
Americans have always lost their jobs more frequently than their European counterparts, but we've also tended to find new ones faster while the Euro govs tend to offer better retraining and cushier benefits.
It would seem we enter a new period, hence the need for some new rules on how to handle it.