South By North Strategies, Ltd.

A post at macroblog, the blog of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, offers insights into the relative contributions of structural and cyclical factors to the current unemployment situation. Conclude the post:

This most recent recession was especially deep, and the large share of unemployed workers reporting they were permanently separated from their employers suggests that many of those jobs in all likelihood will not come back. If new jobs come with different skill requirements, then skill mismatch could become a significant factor once labor demand increases. However, the relatively disappointing May private-sector payroll jobs numbers released last Friday and the improving but low level of job openings reported in the JOLTS data for April are reminders that weak labor demand is still the dominant factor inhibiting the overall employment recovery.