What is there to say? The unemployment picture is bleak. Trends that worried me 5-6 years ago — declining labor force participation among prime age males, etc. — have reached crisis levels.

So here’s Felix Salmon, Annie Lowrey, Mike Konczal, David Leonhardt, Catherine Rampell, and Neil Irwin. If you read only one of those links, check out Irwin’s report. Konczal offers a somewhat broader perspective.

Motoko Rich of the New York Times, in a related vein, reports on how a growing skills deficit is making it very difficult for manufacturers to fill a number of demanding jobs:

As unlikely as it would seem against this backdrop, manufacturers who want to expand find that hiring is not always easy. During the recession, domestic manufacturers appear to have accelerated the long-term move toward greater automation, laying off more of their lowest-skilled workers and replacing them with cheaper labor abroad.
Now they are looking to hire people who can operate sophisticated computerized machinery, follow complex blueprints and demonstrate higher math proficiency than was previously required of the typical assembly line worker.
Makers of innovative products like advanced medical devices and wind turbines are among those growing quickly and looking to hire, and they too need higher skills.

It’s easy to feel glum, not least because policymakers seem overawed by the dire labor market conditions. And I’m still dismayed by the enormous scale of the “troubled assets” burdening millions of households.