And then, I must confess, I snickered. Not because I didn’t care. Quite the opposite. Because after 18 anxious months of looking for work, my husband recently broke through the impasse of extended unemployment, finding a job in the besieged California tech sector.

How ironic that he should accomplish this just as the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s latest numbers reflect a near-halt to new job growth. And yet, how fitting, completing the funhouse slant the past year has brought to our household. All year long, the headlines have been peppered with upbeat rhetoric about the economy’s strength, rising corporate profits, the high number of jobs being created. With predictions of continued GDP growth of 4.6 percent or better, the economy appeared headed for one of the most economically prosperous years in decades. Why, then, couldn’t my husband find work? I was sick of forecasts of sunshine when all we saw out the window was rain.

I hate jobless recoveries. And I’m willing to bet that America’s 8.2 million unemployed workers feel the same. Granted, 1.6 million jobs have been created in the past year. And President George Bush reminds us that at 5.5 percent, the unemployment rate is below the average of the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. What his administration fails to mention, however, is that long-term unemployment (defined as active job-seeking for longer than six months) increased from 649,119 in 2000 to more than 1.9 million in 2003.

This past June, the number of Americans out of work for at least 12 months came in at over 1 million. These elevated rates of long-term joblessness, states the Economic Policy Institute, have persisted longer than during any similar post-recession recovery period in the past 30 years.

Within the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s data, the category that intrigues me most is “Persons Not in the Labor Force,” comprised of 1.6 million people who “want and are available to work and have looked for a job, but have given up.” They’re not considered unemployed, because they were not currently involved in a job search within four weeks of the time of the survey. Of these, 504,000 are charmingly referred to by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as “discouraged workers,’ not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.” I don’t blame them. Divide 32,000 jobs by 9.8 million people out of work and see what you get.

Unemployment is a social subject touched on lightly by most and then swept under the table. Like news of a prolonged illness, people soon grow tired of hearing about it. When it goes on for over a year, it changes your relationship with family and friends. “Your husband is still out of work?” friends would demand over the phone. In person, when I’d confess our trials yet again, I’d watch faces glaze over, smiles grow fixed. I could almost see their thoughts: “What’s up? The economy is growing-lowest employment rate in years. What’s the real problem here?”

Prolonged unemployment is terrifying, alienating. It’s like being stranded alongside a highway, watching cars flash past. Most of the other drivers look straight ahead, focusing on their own journey. Occasionally you’ll catch a glimpse of a sympathetic face, maybe an encouraging thumbs up to show they’re behind you in your struggle. But they’re moving too fast to stop and offer assistance. And then whoosh, they’ve passed, spewing bits of gravel and dirt in your face. That feeling resurfaces every time a job lead dies, every time a business professional won’t return your calls. Never mind that you’ve completed three rounds of interviews with him and his company. It’s acceptable not to call you back. You’re the unemployed one, and clearly not the chosen candidate. You don’t count.

After a year of this, socializing and cocktail-hour chatter become a greater challenge. An invisible glass wall seems to divide you from the others. There’s a weight on your shoulder as if a dead animal dropped from the sky and landed on you. Friends complain about their vacations: how rude the French are; how it rained too much in Hawaii and spoiled everything. You stare at them, mute, wondering which innocent comment is going to eventually set you off. You wonder if they see the irony of their complaints and surmise that the humor is yours alone to enjoy.

We were lucky in the end. In late June, my husband found work in his chosen field, with good pay and full benefits. Perhaps the country is on the road to a robust recovery, after all. But then there are the discouraging June and July payroll figures to consider. Additionally, the recent spike in oil prices, renewed fears of terrorism and reduced consumer spending don’t bode well for job creation in August. Many industry experts, however, echo Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s sentiment that the economy has simply hit a soft patch and will soon continue on its vigorous course.

The Bush administration stands confident and unwavering. “This economy is strong and it is getting stronger,” Bush has told crowds across the Heartland during his campaign tours. His policies, he argues, have helped the economy and sparked growth.

Thanks to his tax cuts, after-tax incomes are up by 11 percent. Never mind that tax breaks don’t mean much to those who have no income to tax. Equally frustrating is the news that household wealth is near an all-time high. Maybe somewhere it is. Not, however, in the households of the unemployed.

I recognize there are no villains here, nor perfect solutions. What I do see, however, are unemployed Americans who’ve been left behind in the dust, and who can only continue their search for work as the nation attempts to reclaim its lost 1.1 million jobs. Labor Day is approaching. How about this year honoring the load of the laborless as well?

Terez Rose of Boulder Creek, Calif., is a free-lance writer. He e-mail address is terez.rose@sbcglobal.net.