Not Choosy, But Not Finding a Job

For more than two decades Ruth Dixon prepared court orders and warrants for judges. Now she’s been looking for work—for two and a half years.

Dixon, at 59, is in some ways a statistic: one of millions of Americans who represent a new breed of the unemployed in this recession. They have solid employment histories. They have solid qualifications. They work hard at looking for a new job. And keep looking. And keep looking.

The jobs just aren’t there. The job she finds might have to be the one she creates—in her case, out of recycled leather.

“I feel like a lot of my clients are not typical legal aid clients,” said New Haven Legal Assistance Deputy Director Susan Nofi-Bendici, whose agency has been helping increasing numbers of long-term unemployed people. “They have skills and a work history. It’s been surprising to me how many formally middle class folks are now eligible for our services.”

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