When Will Thomas first got laid off last September, part of him felt relieved. <\/p>\n
He had been doing business development at a tech start up trying to make public benefits easier to access and administer, and it just wasn\u2019t a great fit for him. But he was very aware it wasn\u2019t a great time to be job searching, especially for policy jobs in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that this was going to be a long and tough road,\u201d Thomas said. <\/p>\n
But by long and tough road, Thomas figured maybe it would take him six or eight months to find a new job in his field, food and nutrition policy.<\/p>\n
The reality \u201chas been far worse than my expectations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Almost a year later, he is still looking for a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cLately, it has largely felt like screaming into the void,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve been a finalist for roles three different times.\u201d<\/p>\n
But never the finalist. At least, not yet. <\/p>\n
Thomas is now one of the 1.8 million people officially considered long-term unemployed<\/a> by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning they\u2019ve been out of work and actively looking for a job for longer than six months. Some for much longer \u2014 though past 27 weeks, the BLS doesn\u2019t track how long. <\/p>\n A quarter of those who are out of work now fall into this category. <\/p>\n Unemployment benefits, meanwhile, only last about 26 weeks \u2014 and that\u2019s in the more generous states. In some, they run out after 12 weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at a kind of historic position in terms of how many people are long-term unemployed, unemployed for economic reasons, unemployed in particular demographics,\u201d said Michele Evermore, a senior fellow at the National Employment Law Project. <\/p>\n In addition to those who officially count as long-term unemployed, there\u2019s a growing number of people who are considered to have dropped out of the labor force even though they would still like to be working.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween all of these numbers \u2014 people who are discouraged from looking, people who’ve dropped out of the labor force<\/a>, people who are part-time for economic reasons<\/a> \u2014 you’re seeing a huge section of the labor force that’s not where they want to be,\u201d Evermore said. <\/p>\n That can have a lasting, negative impact, both on those people and on the economy. <\/p>\n Catherine Maddux is acutely aware of that. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and she\u2019s been out of work since April of last year. <\/p>\n Just four days before she was set to start a communications job at the Department of Homeland Security, she got a call and an email all at once telling her the job had been rescinded.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018I just left my job,\u2019\u201d Maddux said. \u201c\u2018I’m not married. I don’t have any insurance.\u2019 And they’re like, \u2018sorry.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n She knew the job market was rough, but she also didn\u2019t see the point in dwelling on her bad luck. She thought she would be able to figure it out soon enough.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how to do this \u2014 I’m a hustler, and I’ll get a job quickly,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe it’ll take four months, six months.\u201d <\/p>\n But four months passed with no job offers, beyond some freelance gigs here and there. Then six. Then her unemployment benefits ran out. <\/p>\n Eventually, Maddux decided it was time to apply for a part-time job at an Aldi supermarket to make some money. She didn\u2019t get a call for that, either.<\/p>\n \u201cI had some savings \u2014 not a lot \u2014 and I have raided my 401(k) four times,\u201d she said. \u201cIt’s been miserable.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s now been almost a year and a half, and she\u2019s still out of work. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got to a year, I have to tell you, they really need to add that into unemployment numbers,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is something that happens to you mentally after a year where you’re like, there’s no job for me.\u201d <\/p>\n To stay sane, she\u2019s been volunteering at a food pantry. Going to the gym. Trying to get out of the house and out of her head. <\/p>\n \u201cI try not to think about the fact that when I do get to retirement, that this could have a really, really long-term effect on my later years,\u201d Maddux said. \u201cI understand that. I understand that I may not recover from this.\u201d<\/p>\n Though she still hopes she will. <\/p>\n Just across the river in D.C., Will Thomas is just about to hit the one year mark, which he can\u2019t quite believe. <\/p>\n He\u2019s surviving by working a few nights a week as a bouncer at his neighborhood gay bar, a job he picked up about a month after he got laid off. <\/p>\n \u201cI was a regular there \u2014 it’s two blocks away from my house,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew they needed someone, and I knew I needed a job at least part-time.\u201d <\/p>\n