'Working Scared' Author Predicts 5 More Years Of Pain

Since the recession, there has been fierce debate over the root causes of America's stubbornly high unemployment rate. Is outsourcing to blame? A skills mismatch? Is the American educational system failing? Is the epidemic of joblessness temporary, or a new and tragic fact of American life?

One group has been collecting the hard data to point to some answers. Over the last 15 years, the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University surveyed nearly 25,000 employed and unemployed Americans. The results offer the most comprehensive picture of the American workforce to date.