As the recession eases, companies are cutting fewer jobs. Yet they remain reluctant to hire, leaving potentially millions of Americans without any financial aid long after their unemployment benefits run out.
That grim picture was reinforced Thursday by the latest government report on jobless benefits. The number of first-time claims _ a proxy for the pace of layoffs _ remained below the peak levels of the spring. At the same time, though, the total number of people receiving unemployment aid topped 9.1 million.
"We are left with a bifurcated job market, with fewer newer claimants but a rising tide of long-term unemployed," said Cary Leahey, an economist at Decision Economics. "Some will ...