And it is that higher long-term unemployment rate in Europe that causes the overall higher unemployment rate.

FORBES: The Problem With US Unemployment Is That It Is Now Like European Unemployment

But the rate of long-term unemployment, 3 percent in January, is precisely triple its 2001-07 average, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek calculation based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (Those two rates 4.9 percent and 3 percent add up to the overall unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.) A striking statistic: The long-term unemployed make up 38 percent of all workers without jobs, double the average share and just a few notches down from the 2010-11 peak of 45 percent.

FORBES: Why America's Unemployment Problem Is Becoming More Like The European Problem

John Williams estimates that if U-6 counted the long-term discouraged workers, the unemployment rate would be 22.8%.

FORBES: Why Jack Welch Has A Point About Unemployment Numbers

The length of the downturn (the longest since the Depression) and the weakness of the recovery have combined to generate an unprecedented rise in the rate of long-term unemployment.

ECONOMIST: Unemployment benefits

Last month the Fed said that as long as inflation remained modest, it could keep short-term rates near zero until the unemployment rate dips below 6.5 percent from the current 7.8 percent.

NPR: Markets Steady Ahead Of Fed Statement

Even amidst the rotten unemployment rate 8.3% officially, 15% taking the discouraged long-term unemployed into account many good jobs go begging today.

FORBES: ManpowerGroup's Jeff Joerres on the Skills Gap