"Certainly being unemployed any length of time is very important, but if you can get a job quickly that makes that length of time that you are out of work a little less oppressive," says Walden, a specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

"That in mind, we see that about 37 percent of people who are unemployed are actually out of work ... for less than 5 weeks. And another 30 percent are unemployed for between 5 and 14 weeks," Walden says. "Now, economists call these folks the frictional unemployed. And the good news is much of their time out of work is going to be covered by unemployment insurance, and many of these folks are simply between jobs. And as the numbers indicate they get a new job rather quickly.

"Now 14 percent of the unemployed are out of work for 14 to 26 weeks. And another 18 percent for over 26 weeks," Walden adds. "We call these folks the structurally unemployed, and they are, I think, the biggest issue in the unemployment numbers because their loss of a job is probably tied to a changing job market -- for example losing a textile job and then you have to get retrained to find something else. So these are the folks that we focus on because, I think, they have the biggest issues."