Craig Berry, who has been unemployed for 10 months, signs up for temporary work at a Manpower temporary agency in Chicago. The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a 26-year high last week and factory orders plummeted in December.
As the deep economic downturn continues to swell the pool of unemployed workers, it is also delaying the recovery that will be needed to get those people back to work.
Even if Congress and the White House can agree on a huge program of fresh spending and tax …