It’s a New Year but national unemployment is still hovering around 9.4 per cent. And, the unemployed will continue to face unusually harsh economic conditions when looking for new jobs.

Recent surveys indicate that of the 15 million unemployed Americans, greater than 40 percent have been jobless for six months or more. Further, older Americans who may have worked 20 to 30 years for the same or several companies— and were recently layed off—face the prospect of competing with lower paid younger workers and the realities of “age discrimination” (yes, it does exist in the US even though Federal law prohibits job discrimination for persons aged 40 years or older). Finally, long term unemployed workers are likely to experience emotional and psychological problems like depression more than others.