The answer, as usual, is 'no'

I was attending to my daily responsibility of walking the dog Wednesday when I came upon a friend who was also out for a walk. As many conversations have lately, ours came to the question of "Have you found a job yet?" The answer, from someone out walking a dog in the middle of the day, was pretty obvious: "No."

To my knowledge, none of my laid-off former colleagues have found work, either. Although I have diligently scanned employment web sites, attempted to network with people who might have inside information on job opportunities and filled out numerous (and often tedious) job applications, I've had no luck. I'm sure my former colleagues have worked as hard as I at finding employment.

It's depressing and disappointing. It's also increasingly common. Many thousands of former reporters, editors and other journalists have been dumped by their panicked employers, whose advertising revenue has plummeted. There are few opportunities for workers with our skill sets. Millions of workers across the country are unemployed, from assembly line workers in once-dominant industries to bankers and others in the collapsed financial industry. And while there are glimmers of an economic recovery, we all know that job creation lags in a recovery. Even if the economy gets healthy before year-end, it's unlikely that much new hiring will take place for months longer. Even government employment, once a haven in recessionary times, looks uninviting. Local and state governments are imposing hiring freezes or laying off workers.

Digging America out of this recession will not be easy. Even if the mortgage/lending crisis abates and consumer spending expands, placing the millions of former workers back into jobs will be difficult. Getting over the hump of disappointments and loss of self-esteem and personal purpose will be difficult for each of the millions of laid off workers, once they find a new job.