Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last month said persistently high U.S. unemployment was causing "enormous suffering," even as he expressed confidence that the jobless rate would eventually return to pre-recession levels, as it has in past downturns.
The situation is especially acute among America's youngest workers, who are battling an unemployment rate that's remained at or above 16 percent for the longest period in postwar history.
Oliva, 35, hasn't held a year-round job since she graduated from the University of Naples with an art degree 12 years ago, and now manages a bar near Rome. Wright, 22, who got his B.A. in history from Middlebury College in Vermont four months ago, moved in with his parents in Queens, New York, because he is unemployed.
"I knew it would be difficult, but I thought I'd have a job by now," said Wright, who began seeking work in April and says he lost count of how many resumes he's sent out. "All of these places I'm applying to say they want prior experience, but how am I supposed to gain experience if I can't get a job?"
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