Typical NYTimes - focus on the negative.
Best job results last month since 1999.
I got fired from a job a year ago October, posted my resume on Workopolis, within 20 minutes I had been contacted by five agencies and actually got a call offering me a really good job while I was about to interview a driver at Road Atlanta. (I took the job but told them I'd have to call them back about it because I was interviewing a driver.)
In 1982 I flew down to Atlanta for a week, had 22 interviews, and got a job before I went home.
I have never had any trouble getting work, even when I really didn't want any work. I suspect these people have Issues. For example, they speak poor English, are single parents with four young children and no permanent child care solution, can't read or write to the standards of the business world, or won't work nights, weekends or after hours.
My wife was laid off a week before Christmas. They let her work through the holidays.
Before her last day she had had three phone calls from prospective employers.
She says the interviews have gone well and everything looks to be a "go" to start her new job in a week. (whew!)
In just about every retail establishment I go to nowadays I see help wanted signs. The local Mobil station even has a sign that says they offer benefits. I find it hard to believe someone can't even get a job as a cleaning person.
I wonder if they spent all those months getting free income by developing additional job skills to be more marketable for employers. Being in the IT field I'm constantly learning, I've been put out of work twice in the last 3 years by layoffs, and haven't been out of work not one day.
ADVISE: Even when you have a job, you should constantly improve yourself, and stay plugged into the labor market. Never get comfortable, when changes occur you will hit the ground running.