Unemployment has been stuck near 9 percent since the recession ended more than two years ago. The jobs report for September on Friday sent the clearest signal to date that the crisis will last through next year's elections.
The pain isn't confined to the 14 million officially unemployed Americans. Among those hurt by today's 9.1 percent jobless rate are people forced to work only part-time and those who've given up looking for work in frustration.
Count many people with jobs, too. Their pay, home values and employment prospects have been diminished by the lack of good-paying, full-time work. Include, too, communities where services have been slashed, small businesses struggling with weak sales and young adults who can't find jobs to repay student loans.
The ailing job market is both a symptom and a cause of troubles elsewhere in the economy – from a depressed housing market to cash-short governments to sluggish consumer spending.
Here's a look at the wide-ranging consequences of chronically weak job growth.
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WAGES:
A crippled labor market shifts bargaining power to employers. Workers have little leverage to seek raises. When adjusted for inflation, pay was nearly 2 percent less in August than it was a year earlier, according to the Labor Department.
"People are much more compliant and willing to take extra work assignments because they're afraid," says Carl Van Horn of Rutgers University's Center for Workforce Development.
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