Growing number of Americans facing prospect of long-term unemployment

New York — When 41-year-old Emily Groveman is not volunteering at a New York City animal shelter, she's usually in her one-bedroom apartment looking for a job. 

"It's been impossibly difficult," Groveman told CBS News. "It's been almost two years." 

For almost a decade, she worked in hospitality with the NBA.

"All the swag tickets to parties, back of house tours, meet-and-greets with the players, that would all flow through me," Groveman said.

Groveman then went on to lead a team at a digital marketing firm for about six years. She left in 2023 and hasn't been able to find another job since. She's tried everything, she says, from reaching out to her network of friends, to working with a recruiter, to posting resume reels on LinkedIn.

"The job market has been brutal for quite some time," Groveman said.

For one specific position, she said she went through 13 interviews with 11 different people at the company.

"They were stuck between me and the other candidate," Groveman said. "And ultimately, they went with the other person, and I was like, 'I can't keep doing this.'"

As the rejections piled up, so too have the bills.

"Since March, I've been living off of my 401(k)," Groveman said. "…I've been dipping into it every month now."

According to Labor Department data, in August, nearly two million people in the U.S. faced long-term unemployment, defined as being out of work for at least 27 weeks. That's the highest number since 2022, during the pandemic.

"The primary reason we are seeing long-term unemployment getting worse is because of economic uncertainty coming out of the White House," labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci said.

Fuel has been added to some of that uncertainty recently by the government shutdown and an ongoing flurry of tariffs instituted by the Trump administration on nations across the globe. In early September, the number of U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits hit about 263,000, the highest mark since October 2021. 

Ghilarducci believes that the job market is not going to improve "anytime soon."

"If someone is looking for work now, it's going to be tougher, more people looking for the job that you want," Ghilarducci said. "And more and more businesses being reluctant to hire. It doesn't mean you should stop, but the market will not ease up, for any time soon."

As for Groveman, she's given up on trying to find a job. In December, she plans to move to a Buddhist temple in Upstate New York, where she will get free housing for working at a retreat center.

"If you have the ability to work, you should be able to," Groveman said. "And that's how the American Dream happens. You pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and put in the work, and you'll be rewarded. But that's not happening anymore."

Mary Cunningham contributed to this report.

• Unemployment