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Lede: With U.S. national unemployment at a 26-year high, workers see no economic recovery for them.

By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka says the 10.2 percent jobless number is a wakeup call for sleepy politicians that more must be done to create jobs. Economist Dean Baker with the Center for Economic and Policy Research says the unemployment percentage is not likely to drop significantly until the spring. Even with another extension of unemployment benefits from Congress workers are not feeling any economic recovery. Baker says absent any major policy changes we could be forced to live with higher than normal unemployment for years to come. President Obama says the 10.2 percent unemployment is a “sobering number that underscores the economic challenges ahead.” According to the AFL-CIO roughly 16 million Americans who need work now can’t find it.