THREAT TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY: Hidden Workforce Challenges Domestic Economic Recovery. “Workers who have lost their jobs but are not currently looking for new ones are not counted in the Department of Labor’s much-watched unemployment rate. Economists say the longer these workers stay out of the job market, the harder it will be for them to find employment, creating a vicious cycle that can spiral for months or longer. . . . Adding these workers to February’s jobless rate pushes it up to 10.5 percent, well above the more commonly cited 8.9 percent rate. An even broader measure of unemployment, which includes people forced to work part time, stands at nearly 16 percent.”