What happens if lost jobs don't come back?

The real question facing the nation, and one that Obama’s summits and speeches aren’t addressing, is this: What if the job losses this time around aren’t temporary, the “ebb” part of the ebb and flow of the business cycle? What if employers are hacking away at their permanent workforce?

There is support in the data for the idea that many of the lost jobs aren’t coming back. In November, a record 55.1 percent of job losses were categorized as permanent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average duration of unemployment reached a post-World War II high of 28.5 weeks. And 38.3 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, also a record…

Today’s labor market may have become less flexible, Soss said. Employee skills aren’t readily transferable. An assembly line auto worker may not have the skill set suited to software programming or sales.