Allison Linn

Long-term joblessness can be one of the worst things a person has to go through, but job seekers have to brush aside the pessimism and take action.

Economy reporter Allison Linn has covered the labor market throughout the tough economic times of nation has faced in recent years and Tuesday wrote about how the long-term unemployed were losing benefits. She was on hand Wednesday to offer some words of encouragement and some reality checks for readers who tuned into our live web chat looking for advice.

One reader was down in the dumps about overall job prospects and asked:

How do you stay encouraged when you've been unemployed or underemployed for a long time, and what's the best response to prospective employers who ask, "What have you been doing during your period of unemployment?"

To that, Linn advised:

That is such a good question and something that many long-term unemployed people struggle with. The first thing I would say is to expect that any employer will ask about your resume gap, so come up with a good answer. If you've done any volunteer work in your field, gone to school or really had anything happen that may seem relevant or make you look eager and hard-working, that will help.

And, she added, “Don't dawdle on that answer, though. Address the elephant in the room and move the conversation toward what you can offer to the employer.”

Linn, who you can follow on Twitter, took on topics ranging from updating your job skills to work-at-home scams.

You can view the entire Q&A with Linn here:

Photo courtesy of Skechers

Kim Kardashian was part of the Skechers ad campaign called "deceptive" by the FTC.

Skechers, the company that makes those extremely popular Shape-ups toning shoes, has agreed to pay $40 million in refunds to settle charges of deceptive advertising brought by the Federal Trade Commission. 

(Click here to get the facts about this settlement and instructions on how to file for a refund if you are eligible.) 

You’ve probably seen the ads for Shape-Ups. They say you can “get in shape without setting foot in a gym.” Some of the ads feature celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke. 

Skechers USA said its shoes provided more weight loss and muscle toning and strengthening (of the buttocks, legs and abdominal muscles) than regular fitness shoes. 

The FTC complaint charges Skechers with falsely representing that it had clinical studies to back up those claims. The commission alleges the company made similar deceptive claims about its Resistance Runner, Toners and Tone-Up shoes.

“Skechers’ unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles. The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health,” said David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a written statement. “The FTC’s message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims.” 

In a press release, Skechers denied the allegations and "believes its advertising was appropriate, but has decided to settle these claims in order to avoid protracted legal proceedings."

Some of the ads for Shape-Ups featured an endorsement from a chiropractor, Dr. Steven Gautreau, who said his recommendation was based on an “independent” clinical study he conducted. The FTC’s lawsuit alleges this study did not produce the positive results claimed. Dr. Gautreau is married to a Skechers marketing executive and the company paid him to conduct the study. The ads did not disclose this information. 

Under the settlement announced today, Skechers is barred from making claims about strengthening, weight loss or any other health or fitness-related benefits from its toning shoes, unless those claims are true and backed by scientific evidence. 

Last year, the FTC reached a similar settlement with Reebok International LTDk about claims for its toning shoes. Reebook agreed to make $25 million in customer refunds.

The federal settlement is part of a broader agreement that resolves an investigation conducted by 44 states and the District of Columbia.

Something else to consider
I first warned you that the claims for toning shoes appeared to be over-hyped back in November of 2010. (ConsumerMan: Do those funky shoes really promote fitness?) I explained that toning shoes are designed to be unstable, which could cause problems for people who already have trouble maintaining their balance.

At that time, Consumer Reports was concerned that seniors who wore toning shoes could increase their risk of falling, which could result in hip fractures or other serious injuries. That’s still something to consider before you buy a pair of these shoes.

More information:

• How’s that Work-out Working Out? Tips on Buying Fitness Gear 

The Hamilton Beach Ensemble starts at $38.

Single-cup pod brewers are seducing a growing number of coffee drinkers with their convenience: Simply choose a coffee pod, pop it in, and press a button. But these instructions conveniently omit the first step: reaching into your wallet to pay the $100 or more such machines typically cost. On top of that, The New York Times has calculated that buying coffee in pods equates to spending more than $50 per pound of ground coffee. Stick with good, old-fashioned automatic-drip to stay caffeinated on a budget.

Below are Cheapism’s top picks for affordable coffee makers.

• The Black & Decker Brew 'n Go DCM18S (starting at $19) is a highly rated, low-priced alternative to a pod brewer. It uses ground coffee but brews a single cup directly into an included 15-ounce travel mug. (Where to buy)
• The Hamilton Beach Ensemble 43254 (starting at $38) is a more typical programmable, 12-cup coffee maker with a glass carafe that reliably delivers piping-hot coffee, according to online reviews. Many consumers also like how it looks on their countertops. This model is black and stainless steel; a red version (43253) is also available. (Where to buy)
• The Mr. Coffee JWX27 (starting at $35) is another standard 12-cup machine that boasts a few extra features, such as a brew-strength selector, a cleaning cycle, and a water filter. Experts credit this coffee maker with heating water to the high temperature required for optimum brewing. (Where to buy)
• The Hamilton Beach BrewStation Summit 48464 (starting at $47) appeals to many consumers with its distinctive design. Instead of brewing coffee into a carafe, like many other 12-cup models, this machine stores the coffee in an internal thermal tank and dispenses it on demand. (Where to buy)

Carafe-less coffee makers like the Black & Decker Brew ‘n Go and Hamilton Beach BrewStation Summit promise certain advantages over conventional machines. Other low-cost coffee makers typically come with breakable glass carafes and employ a hotplate to keep coffee warm. A brew that sits too long is apt to acquire a bitter, burnt taste. Coffee makers with thermal carafes are another alternative, but those are uncommon in this price range. While we did manage to find one, the Mr. Coffee TFTX85, we also found numerous complaints that it fails to keep coffee hot.

With the exception of the Black & Decker Brew ‘n Go, these are programmable machines that can be set the night before and have coffee waiting when you wake up. They not only turn on but also shut off automatically, typically after two hours. The Hamilton Beach BrewStation Summit can be adjusted to keep coffee hot for up to four hours.

A couple of our picks -- the Mr. Coffee JWX27 and Hamilton Beach BrewStation Summit -- feature a specialized brewing mode for producing bolder flavor from the same amount of coffee. The BrewStation Summit also offers a setting for iced coffee and a small-batch option for brewing one to four cups instead of a full pot.

More from Cheapism:
Cheap coffee makers
Summer outlets comparison
How to buy a computer on a budget
How to attend the Summer Olympics on a budget

Paul Sakuma / AP

A bad score could cost you a loan. That's why it's so important for you to understand how credit scoring works.

Your credit score, which is based on your credit history, can have an enormous effect – positive or negative – on your life. A good score could save you thousands of dollars a year in interest. A bad score could cost you a loan. That’s why it’s so important for you to understand how credit scoring works. 

A new surveyby the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and VantageScore Solutions shows overall knowledge about credit scores has improved significantly in the past year. But the results also make it clear there’s still a long way to go.

Many consumers still need to learn about what scores represent, how to get access to them and how to improve them,” notes CFA’s executive director Stephen Brobeck.

Fewer than half (44 percent) of those surveyed are aware that a credit score typically measures risk of not repaying loans, rather than the amount of debt or financial resources you have. Only 29 percent know how costly a low score can be.

“Very few people understand that on a conventional new car loan ($20,000 for 60 months) if they have a low score that will cost them $5,000 more in additional interest charges than a borrower with a high credit score,” Brobeck says.

One of the most troubling findings: more than half the respondents still think, incorrectly, that a person’s age and marital status are used to calculate credit score. One-fifth (21 percent) incorrectly believe ethnic origin is a factor.

“Your ethnicity isn’t even on your credit report, so it’s impossible for it to be a factor in computing your credit score,” explains John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com. “Your credit score is not influenced by anybody but you. Your own actions completely determine the score.” 

One key area of misunderstanding: the impact of multiple credit checks while applying for a loan during a one to two week period. Few people (only 9 percent) know that shopping for a loan like this will not lower their credit score. 

“If people are not shopping for credit because they think it will negatively impact their credit score, that’s not good,” says Adam Levin, chairman of credit.com. “People need to shop around and get the best deal at the best rate. That’s good for the consumer and good for the economy.” 

Despite years of warnings about credit repair companies, more than half the people contacted (51 percent) believe that these companies are “always” or “usually” helpful in correcting credit report errors and improving scores. That’s troubling. 

“Experts around the country are in almost complete agreement that these credit repair companies overpromise, charge high prices and also perform services that consumers could do for themselves,” CFA’s Brobeck warns. 

The Consumer Federation of America says there are ways to raise your credit score. 

• Consistently pay your bills on time every month.
• Don’t max out, or even come close to maxing out, your credit cards or other revolving credit accounts.
• Pay down debt. Don’t just move it around.
• Don’t open a lot of new accounts rapidly.
• Check your credit reports from each of the three big credit reporting agencies throughout the year to make sure they are error-free. You can get one free copy from each bureau every twelve months. Use this website -- www.annualcreditreport.com -- or call 877-322-8228. You must give your Social Security number since this is how credit reports are tracked.

How much do you know about credit scores and credit reports? Take the CreditScoreQuiz. There is also a Spanish language version.

• More information:
  ConsumerMan: Credit Information that’s really, 100% free 
• Federal Trade Commission: Credit Repair 
• Federal Trade Commission: How to Dispute Credit Report Errors 
• FICO: Credit Basics 

Courtesy of Clarissa Doutherd

Clarissa Doutherd, shown with son Xavier, has had to quit her full-time job but so far has avoided public assistance.

Clarissa Doutherd, 30, was able to lift herself out of poverty and climb the ladder of success at a nonprofit, rising from part-time bookkeeping assistant to staff accountant. But last year the high cost of child care derailed her ambitions.

Doutherd, who lives in Oakland, Calif., with her 4-year old son Xavier, had been able to cover the nearly $1,000 monthly child care bill thanks to a state subsidy that helps lower-income working parents. The support disappeared after budget cutbacks last year.

“In June, I had to quit my full-time job,” after her salary was insufficient to cover her child care costs, she said. “I was on the brink of being able to pay the full cost, just another raise away from being completely self-sufficient.”

At a time when women’s issues have become a political football in the national arena, many states have been chipping away at funds aimed at supporting working mothers and families, even as federal subsidies are drying up and the cost of child care is climbing.

The average cost of child care increased nearly 2 percent for centers and family-run child care homes in 2010 compared to the previous year, according to the most recent data available from Child Care Aware of America, which provides information for parents and child care providers. The cost of care for infants in a center rose 2.3 percent, while the cost of infant care in a home setting rose 2.6 percent.

Depending where you live, costs can vary wildly. The average cost for full-time care for a 4-year-old in Mississippi is about $3,900 a year, compared with $12,200 in Massachusetts, the group reported.

“If you need child care today and can’t afford it it’s challenging to get it,” said Helen Blank, director of leadership and public policy at the National Women’s Law Center. “Unfortunately, this doesn’t get the spotlight it should given its critical importance to helping women work and helping kids.”

There is a broad political consensus that helping low-income parents pay for child care helps the economy.

Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney has said as much on the stump.

“I'm willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work," he said in a speech this year. "It'll cost the state more providing that day care, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work."

But many states have had to slash budgets for such programs, leaving working families struggling to foot hefty child-care bills.

A recent study by the National Women's Law Center shows how some states have taken a hatchet to day care subsidies. A sampling:

• In California, Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget would cut spending on child care and early education by $517 million. the cuts “would deprive 62,000 children of the opportunity to participate in these programs," according to the Law Center. Income eligibility limit for child-care assistance would be reduced from $42,216 a year for a family of three to $38,180 a year for a family of three. A previous eligibility change is what impacted Doutherd.
• In Florida, over 75,000 children are on a waiting list for child-care assistance.
• In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage proposed funding cuts that would eliminate child-care assistance for half of the families currently receiving it. 
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a budget for fiscal 2013 that, together with planned systemic changes, “would result in 15,900 children losing their child care program and 31,800 children losing their after-school program as of September of 2012," according to the Law Center.

Many of the cutbacks by states are a result of federal dollars drying up from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, said Blank. While President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget proposes $825 million to help states, many working family advocates expect a shortfall.

“The problem we continually face is as a country we’re not willing to put the resources into child care to make that available,” said Blank. “Families can’t afford it, and it’s an endless struggle for providers, families and policymakers.”

The deep recession and slow recovery have kept  government officials focused on priorities of food, shelter and employment. But she said that for working families, “child care is the lynchpin for all those things.”

Putting child care on the back burner has been a problem for years, said Martha J. Buell, professor of human development and families studies at the University of Delaware. The United States, she pointed out, is one of the few developed countries that does not fully support education prior to age 5.

The problem, as she sees it, is that policymakers see child care as workforce support rather than preschool education. “The first five years are critically important for getting kids ready for school," she said.

Indeed, Doutherd felt her son benefited from his time in day care, in addition to the benefits of her being able to earn a paycheck and get off welfare.

“We struggle financially because I’m not able to work full-time yet,” said Doutherd, who is trying to get any work she can while watching her son at home. She’s proud to say she hasn’t had to apply for any public assistance yet as she had to in the past, but she’s unsure what the future holds.

“The problem with cutting child care subsidies is instead of encouraging parents and families to work, you put them back into the system,” she said.

Stephen Coburn / Featurepics.com

Have you ever found yourself competing for a job with your significant other?

With more and more couples meeting at work, it’s bound to happen: You and your spouse end up in the running for the same job. Have you ever applied for the same job as your husband or wife? If so, we want to hear from you. Please include some details about the situation and how it turned out, plus contact information so we can get in touch.

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to students at Dhaka International School.

For women and their careers, it’s often not about what they do but how they look. More proof of that came last week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines around the world not for anything she did but because she appeared without makeup on a trip to Bangladesh.

“Hillary Clinton addresses ‘au naturale’ liberation,” said political blog The Drudge Report, while trend site Styleite.com declared that Clinton “just wants to be normal and do things like wear her hair in a scrunchie, party with her girlfriends and go out without a stitch of makeup.”

The kicker was England’s Daily Mail, which said Clinton’s moment sans makeup made her look “tired and withdrawn.”

Similarly former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks drew angry comments Friday not just for her role in a phone hacking scandal but for her appearance, especially her curly red hair, when she testified before a British government inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson.

AFP/Getty Images

Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, testifies at the Leveson Inquiry.

Here are some of the popular Brooks tweets for the day:

• A date for your diary / Rebekah Brooks, at the inquiry / Hair and temperament, fiery / Words, liary
• Rebekah Brooks. We get it. You have lots of curly red hair, but wearing Orphan Annie's dress to the Leveson hearing? Seriously?

There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to Brooks' hair, called Rebekah Brook's hair is so big because it's full of secrets.

It goes to show that no matter how high up in business or politics a woman gets — or how hard she falls — in the end the focus is often about how she looks and not what she does.

“We’re still held to a double standard,” said Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who produced the 2011 documentary “Miss Representation” about the underrepresentation of women in powerful positions.

“It’s tragic,” she said. “We have an obsession with women’s looks. Unfortunately our culture has bought into this whole double standard that a women’s value is her beauty not her capacity to lead.”

The Look: Hillary Clinton doesn't care if you see her without makeup

Women certainly feel the pressure to look good. Nearly half of women don’t feel good about themselves unless they’re wearing makeup, according to a study released this year by the Renfrew Center Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on eating disorder research and treatment.

The online study, conducted by Harris Interactive for Renfrew, polled nearly 1,300 adult women and found 44 percent "have negative feelings when they are not wearing makeup," including feeling self-conscious, unattractive or that something is missing. Only 3 percent said going without makeup made them feel more attractive.

“Wearing makeup to enhance one’s appearance is normal in our society and often a rite of passage for young women,” said Adrienne Ressler, national training director for Renfrew and a body image expert. “There is concern, however, when makeup no longer becomes a tool for enhancement but rather a security blanket that conceals negative feelings about one’s self-image and self-esteem.”

Many women trying to climb the ladder of success believe they need to enhance their looks or face career doom.

“This goes to the heart of what we still see in the work world today,” said Nancy Mellard, general counsel for business services company CBIZ, which offers a program to develop of women professionals through focused leadership, mentoring and networking. “Whether you’re coming up the career path or at the height of your career like Clinton, we still see women, certainly more than men, judged on appearance not accomplishments.”

While blatant discrimination in the workplace is less common than it was 20 years ago, she said, there are still subtle biases that may be hardest to combat.

TODAY Style: Kathie Lee, Hoda dare to bare (their faces)

One study sponsored by the Women’s Media Center and She Should Run, a group advocating for more women in public leadership, found that sexist comments about female candidates, including critiques on appearance, lead voters to question how effective they would be.

Often the people bashing how women look are other women. “We’re some of the worst,” Mellard said.

Newsom agreed. “It speaks to our own insecurities. We are complicit and have also bought into this, and the only way to change things is for women to start seeing each other more as sisters and supporting, not judging each other.”

Judging each other based on looks, however, is a reality we all have to face because there’s a "beauty benefit" for men as well as women in the workplace.

“Research by economists has shown that ‘beautiful people’, both men and women, have higher pay than less attractive people, holding constant many other factors about the individuals,” said Anne York, associate professor of economics at Meredith College’s School of Business. “So it really does pay for everyone to look good for work.”

“In the case of Hillary Clinton, though, it was quite ridiculous to me that when she went with a natural face, which millions of men do every day, that it made the news with close-up photos of her face," she added. " While her appearance made a lot of news, I don’t think that is necessarily bad if it can start a conversation on accepting more women with a natural appearance.”

Of course, men can fall victim to image-bashing as well.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie has been a hot topic on social media lately. But unlike attacks on Clinton’s face or Brooks’ hair, there’s little fear hoodiegate will undermine the main power base in the business world today – rich white guys.

Related:

Have you and your spouse ever competed for the same job? 

Facebook IPO pits Wall Street suits against the hoodie

Mike Segar / Reuters

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg delivers a keynote address at a Facebook's marketing event in February 2012.

IBM recently named Virginia Rometty as its the first female CEO, and Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg is on her way to becoming one of the richest women in technology when the company goes public.

But despite these noteworthy feats by these female leaders, the number of women chief information officers at U.S. corporations has declined for the second year in a row. It hit less than 10 percent this year, and about one-third of CIOs report they have no women in management positions working for them, according to a survey released Monday by Harvey Nash, a recruiting firm.

“There’s an overall skill set shortage in U.S., across men and women, as far as the IT space,” said Anna Frazzetto, Senior Vice President of Technology Solutions, Harvey Nash USA. But, she added, this has become even more pronounced among women, creating a growing underrepresentation problem for women in technology.

A number of factors are contributing to the dearth of women, she said, including that the industry isn’t thought of as the most social or exciting out there, and that not enough young women are choosing to study technology when they go to college.

Discrimination and preconceived notions about women’s commitment to their jobs also is contributing to the problem, she added.

The lack-of-women dilemma isn’t just a corner office issue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women comprised only 25 percent of all computer-related occupations last year, pointed out Jenny Slade, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Women represented about 25 percent of computer and information systems managers; 38.6 percent of web developers, and 19 percent of software developers. 

Have you and your spouse ever competed for the same job?

In 2011, women made up only about 18 percent of those getting bachelor's degrees in computer and information sciences, a percentage that's held steady for the past four years, she said.

“Unconscious bias” against women in IT is a big problem, she said, and “women don’t always know what the trajectory is to obtain a leadership role.”

A study done by the Center in 2010 found that “56 percent of women in technology leave their employers at the mid-level point in their careers.”

There are a number of factors causing women to leave, said Slade, but the top reasons were bad relationships with supervisors; feeling they were not on the fast track to promotion; feeling they don’t get credit for their work and a hostile work environment.

One women who made it to the top of the IT biz is Patricia Andersen CIO at Apartments.com. She said she was lucky to have worked for companies in her career, including Waste Management, that didn’t discriminate against women when it came to women and technology roles.

“I really haven’t worked at a place where gender was an issue in moving up,” she explained.

Apartments.com, she added, is looking to get even more women in management and one focus of the strategy will be mentoring.

“I’ve had several mentors through my life,” she noted. The mentors helped her learn one of the most important skills you need when it comes to climbing the ladder of success, she said, “how to handle political situations.” 

Nanine Hartzenbusch / for msnbc.com

Jennifer Moss stands in the kitchen of her Boiling Springs, S.C. home on Thursday May 10, 2012. Her unemployment benefits recently expired.

The improving employment situation in South Carolina should be good news for Jennifer Moss, offering hope she can find finally land a job after a year and a half without work.

But in a way, it’s been another blow. The single mother of three kids is one of hundreds of thousands of long-term unemployed Americans who still haven’t found work - and now also find themselves without an unemployment benefit check.

That is because the falling jobless rate in many states has reduced the number of weeks jobseekers can collect unemployment benefits.

So-called extended benefits were eliminated Saturday in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. The same thing already had happened in April in states including South Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee.

That leaves a minority of states where workers are eligible for that last round of benefits.

The extended benefits provide an additional 13 to 20 weeks of unemployment payouts on top of other extra payments that were made available as part of federal legislation passed in the aftermath of the worst recession in decades. The full package gave some jobseekers up to 99 weeks of unemployment payments.

The precise benefits depend partly on the unemployment rate by states, and in many states the rate has been moving down.

For example, California has one of the nation's highest jobless rates at 11 percent, but that is down from 11.9 percent in August. South Carolina's rate of 8.9 percent has fallen from 10 percent last October.

Nanine Hartzenbusch / for msnbc.com

Moss stands outside her home with her three children, from left, Jami Moss, 5, Josh Moss, 6, and Jenna Moss, 9. A single mother, she's worked hard to hold onto her home during her long stint of unemployment.

Moss, who lives in Boiling Springs, S.C., lost her job doing clerical work and flight scheduling for a small corporate flight department in October of 2010, the same week her divorce was finalized. She had worked in hospitality and other fields, and she’d never had trouble finding a job before.

The weak economy made everything different. Since losing her job, Moss said she’s applied for countless jobs and had maybe 10 job interviews, but nothing has worked out.

“There are many sleepless nights where at 2 or 3 in the morning I might be on a website … applying for jobs,” said Moss, who is 40.

To support herself and her three kids under age 10, Moss has relied on unemployment benefits and SNAP, also known as food stamps. She’s also enrolled in a government program that is helping her cover her mortgage payments.

But Moss received her last unemployment benefit May 1, after South Carolina became one of the states to lose extended benefits because of a dip in the unemployment rate. Her mortgage benefit also is set to expire this summer.

“I’m hopeful that the job will be forthcoming very soon, with everything that I’ve got out there,” she said. “But I’m not above doing what’s necessary, meaning a yard sale or selling jewelry or things of that nature.”

Beyond South Carolina, other states, including Alaska, Indiana and Oklahoma, have recently cut back unemployment benefits even further because those states’ unemployment rates have improved. In Indiana and Alaska, jobseekers are eligible for a maximum of 47 weeks of unemployment assistance, while in Oklahoma the maximum amount is now 34 weeks. The Oklahoma jobless rate is 5.4 percent according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but Indiana's rate is 8.2 percent, about the same as the 8.1 percent national average, and Alaska's is still elevated at 7 percent as the economy recovers slowly.

Nationwide about 12 million people are out of work and actively seeking a job. About 5.1 million of those are considered “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer.

What’s more, one big reason the unemployment rate has been falling is because many people are giving up on finding a job or not entering the labor force to begin with. People not actively seeking a job are not counted as unemployed by the BLS.

“We’re adding jobs, but just enough to keep up with growth in the normal working-age population, not enough to start really putting the backlog of unemployed workers back to work,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, which focuses its research on low- and middle-income workers.

The labor force participation rate, or the percentage of Americans over age 16 who are either working or looking for work, fell to 63.6 percent on April. That’s the lowest level in more than three decades.

Moss, in South Carolina, has relied on her religious faith and church for emotional support, and said that both her and her ex-husband’s family have helped out with some expenses, such as birthday parties for the kids.

With money so tight, Moss said she and her kids joke about how they’ll get the Polly Pocket toys and other things they want when the family wins the lottery.

Of course, Moss isn’t even buying any lottery tickets these days.

“No, Lord no,” she said. “There’s not even enough pennies to roll together to get a lottery ticket.”

Many are in the same boat. At least 200,000 people will lose their last set of unemployment benefits because of the most recent wave of expirations in May, on top of about 130,000 who lost benefits in April, the National Employment Law Project estimates.

Claire McKenna, a policy analyst with NELP, which advocates for the unemployed, said some who lose eligibility for extended benefits may still qualify for 10 more weeks of payouts if they meet certain criteria.

But many people will find themselves without a job or unemployment check.

Dan Maloney, 41, has a law degree, an MBA and years of experience in the insurance industry, and yet he’s been without a job since June of 2010.

Maloney, who lives in Dover, N.J., said that in his specialized field, he’s found fierce competition for the few available jobs.

He thinks employers may see his degrees and experience and think he’s overqualified.

Some days he regrets getting his advanced education. Other days Maloney admits he just feels worn down. His unemployment benefits will expire at the end of the month.

“You definitely hit a point where it becomes – you feel defeated,” he said. “There are days you want to give up.”

Mary Rojas, 43, also has an advanced education and speaks several languages. She said she lost her job doing customer service for Spanish-speaking customers at a law firm in Fort Lauderdale in late 2010 and hasn’t been able to find a job since.

Her unemployment benefits are set to expire this month.

Rojas, who lives in Pompano Beach, Fla., found out she was pregnant soon after losing her job, and she said that made it hard to land a job.

Her baby is now eight months old, and she still has had no luck finding something that pays enough to cover the cost of child care for her baby and her six-year-old. She estimates she has applied for 200 or 300 jobs.

In April, her family received another blow when her husband, a chef, lost his job.

One day last week, the couple was shopping for groceries and fretting about how they would get enough money together to pay the rent.

“I’m in tears, honestly, just wondering how we’ll get that amount,” she said.

But Rojas said she was still holding out hope that her degrees and work experience will eventually land her a job.

“I don’t want to give up,” she said.

Given the job market these days, you may be surprised to find that some people actually are quitting their jobs.

Not only that, but they’re giving some pretty creative reasons for why they won’t be coming to work anymore.

Staffing firm OfficeTeam recently asked senior managers to tell them some of the more unusual reasons people have given for quitting their job.

Managers reported that employees had quit to watch a soccer game or take in a movie, because they needed to feed their dog and because they wanted to join a rock band, reality show or beauty contest.

For others, the office atmosphere was literally too much. The 1,300 employers surveyed offered all sorts of sensory-related reasons their employees had quit.

Among them:

"He quit because he didn't like the way the office smelled."

"One employee didn't enjoy the cafeteria food."

"An individual did not like the sound of file cabinets being slammed."

"A person quit because he hated the carpet."

"One worker did not like the colors of the walls."

"The employee quit because the office building was unattractive."

Readers: Tell us the crazy reasons you or one of your co-workers have given for quitting a job. Enter your comment below or on our Facebook page.

Maybe you chose your home state because you born there or have family there, or just because you think it’s a nice place to live. Or maybe you moved there for a better life.

A study out this week from Pew Charitable Trusts finds that where you live matters a lot in terms of whether you can achieve the American Dream of moving up the economic ladder.

The study was good news for residents of New York and New Jersey and not as cheery for those who live in Louisiana and South Carolina.

About 8,000 readers took our poll on the topic, with about half saying they do think there’s a chance to move up the economic ladder where they live. The article also prompted a heated debate about whether things really are so tough in the South, and if so whether politicians and partisan politics are to blame.

Some readers argued that economic success boils down to one thing: Hard work.

“Upward mobility is accorded to people who go after it. Want to work 9 to 5 in your home town, and hang with you high school friends? Forget about upward mobility,” one reader wrote.

Whether or not you’ve made it up the economic ladder, chances are at some point you’ve taken on debt. Another story this week noted that some Americans seem to be taking on more debt again, either by choice or necessity, after cutting back sharply on borrowing over the course of the recession and weak recovery.

The monthly increase in debt appeared to mostly be to fund education and new vehicles, but there also was some increase in credit card debt. Still, most readers who took our poll said they just say no when it comes to credit cards.

Many readers said they now use credit cards only if they know they’ll be able to pay off the balance at the end of the month. Others said they were skipping the plastic to focus on their financial health.

“Haven't used credit in about a year. Our plan is to pay off debt, including student and car loans, before buying a house or anything else,” one reader wrote.

Still, with the economy still weak, some readers said they’ve had no choice but to rely on credit cards.

“Still have to borrow from Peter to pay Paul until our income improves to where it used to be before 2005, if that ever happens,” one reader wrote.

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Men expect to find work quicker if they lose their jobs, but feel less secure in their jobs than women.

Most everyone is worried about the job market in general, and with good reason. The unemployment rate has been higher than average for years, and improvements have been painfully slow.

But it turns out, the specifics of what they're worried about differ for men and women.

A new survey from Randstad finds that men are more likely than women to say the economy has had a negative effect on their career plans. Fifty-one percent of men feel that way, compared to 41 percent of women.

Men also are more likely to say they feel left behind in their careers, with 39 percent of men complaining that the economy had that effect compared to 31 percent of women. Men are also slightly more likely to be extremely worried about losing their jobs.

But the Randstad survey of about 3,000 full-time workers, which was conducted in February, finds that women are more jittery about what would happen if they actually did lose their jobs.

Women are slightly more likely than men to say they don’t think they could find a new job right away that they would want to accept.

In addition, women expect that it would take them longer to find a new job. The average amount of time women said they think it would take to find a new job is 5.4 months, compared to 4.7 months for men.

Kate Gallagher Robbins, senior policy analyst with the National Women's Law Center, said women may be more worried about finding a new job because they are seeing other women lose good-paying jobs in fields such as the public sector, and either strggling to find new work at all or taking a job that pays less.

"They’re really not hearing may good stories about women’s jobs right now," Robbins said.

On the other hand, men -- and particularly young men -- may feel particularly hard hit because the early part of the recession was so hard on them, she noted.

During the recession, men were losing jobs at such a fast pace that some dubbed it a “mancession.” But as the economy officially went into recovery, meaning it was slowly growing again, men started seeing job gains at a much faster clip than women. Only recently have things started to even out. 

The unemployment rate for men was 8.2 percent in April, down from a high of 11.2 percent in late 2009. For women, the unemployment rate was 8 percent in April, down from a high of 9 percent in late 2010.

It turns out there are other ways in which men and women react differently to work stress.

A separate study from the University of Calgary, which was also recently released, found that high levels of job strain increased the risk of depression in full-time male workers, but not of full-time female workers.

On the other hand, women who felt unappreciated in their jobs had a higher risk for depression, while the researchers didn’t see the same correlation for men.

The results were first reported by MyHealthNewsDaily.