It has been -- and many would argue that it still is -- a deep, deep recession. The breadth of job losses is nothing short of staggering.

(via Calculated Risk, click to enlarge)

But it's not just the number of unemployed that's alarming, it's also the duration for which workers remain unemployed.

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And for those who do lose a job, it's probably going to take about six months to find a new one.

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Some, however, argue that this record-level of unemployment is caused by an overly generous safety net that creates incentives to not find work. In short: there is such high unemployment because people just don't want to work. That's a pretty hard case to argue, because for every job opening, there are five workers looking for one

(via Daniel Indiviglio at The Atlantic, click to enlarge)

Oh, and the job that a previously unemployed worker does eventually find, however, is unlikely to be a replacement job in terms of skills, seniority, or wages and benefits. Just because someone has a job doesn't mean it's a job they should have.

(via Calculated Risk, click to enlarge)

It's a brutal job market. Fifteen million workers fruitlessly search for work and are searching longer than their counterparts ever did in the past 45 years. Meanwhile, Congress and the Obama administration remain in the thrall of Concern for the Deficit successfully ignoring the worst economic disaster since the end of the World War II.