Weekly numbers from the Department of Labor show unemployment close to nine percent.  The Wall Street Journal's David Wessel looks at the numbers and pulls out a key stat: 3.7 million Americans (more than 25 percent of the total unemployed)  have been out of work for more than six months.  He says the challenge now is "to keep those people from dropping out of the work force alltogether":

The Bureau of Labor Statistics calls people who are available to work and have looked for work in the last 12 months, but not in the last four weeks, "marginally attached to the labor force."  They don't show up in the unemployment statistics.  "Discouraged workers" are a a subset of "marginally attached workers."  "Discouraged workers" are people who haven't looked for work because they believe there are no jobs available.  This is the category Wessel says we need to keep from growing.  So far, not so good.  The number of "discoiraged workers" rose 70 percent between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.  The number is now at 717,000.  The overall number of "marginally attached" workers reached 2.1 million at the end of the first quarter.  

Read the Bureau of Labor Statistics paper, Ranks of Discouraged Workers and Others Marginally Attached to the Labor Force Rise During Recession.