It's Labor Day 2009, but it feels more like 1983. That's the last time such a large percentage of America's work force was unemployed.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/07/solis.hilda.gi.art.jpg caption="Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis urges the unemployed not to become discouraged."]
The nation's jobless rate of 9.7 percent is troubling enough but it dramatically understates the real depth of the problem. There are between 25 and 30 million people in this country who are ready, willing and able to work full-time, but can't find work.
Think of that – in the world's most powerful economy, the size of the out-of-work population is slightly more than that of New Jersey, South Carolina and Illinois combined.
Here's how it breaks down. There are 14.9 million classified as unemployed. Another 9.1 million are considered "under-employed" – meaning they want full-time work and are actively looking for it but have settled for part-time work instead.
Yet another 2.3 million are called "marginally attached" to the work force. They are ready and able to work and looked for a job sometime in the last year but stopped looking in the last four weeks. They are not counted in the nation's unemployment rate.
And of those "marginally attached," there are 758,000 "discouraged" workers, who have simply stopped looking for a job because they think there is no work for them.
Among those who are not counted: Stay-at-home moms who need to go back to work to feed their families. Discouraged workers who have struggled to find employment since the last recession ended in 2003. Those who have already retired, but have not worked in several years, and now must go back to work because their home values have dropped and their savings plans have taken a hit. Add up the uncounted and those who are counted, and that's 26.3 million workers.
Those are the faces not even counted in the unemployment rate. Within the jobless numbers, there are hundreds of thousands of new college graduates entering the job market for the very first time and entering it unemployed.
There are factory workers and roofers and retail clerks and bankers. There are small business owners who have held on through two grueling years but couldn't keep their businesses going any longer. There are music teachers and guidance counselors and school aides axed by school boards because budget cuts mean something has to give.
And the group with the highest percentage unemployed are teenagers. Teen unemployment now tops 25 percent, a record high.
It's a major political challenge for this White House.
In a Labor Day interview on CNN's "American Morning," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis first noted the downturn began in December 2007, predating this administration, then urged the unemployed not to become discouraged. Watch Labor Secretary Solis talk of job creation 
"There are, you know, flickers of hope out there and I would just hope people please, come by and visit our one-shop centers where people can get free information," Solis said.
The stimulus puts $25 extra in each unemployment check and anyone receiving jobless benefits is eligible for subsidized COBRA health insurance. And Solis says, time-released stimulus spending and new investments in green technology will ultimately help the jobs market. She urged people to retrain for health care and green technology jobs.
"The stimulus is working." And, "re-train for health care and green jobs." It's been the mantra of the Obama administration since February. Yet the labor market is undergoing a deep and lasting downturn that is being felt in big cities and small towns and is no garden-variety labor contraction. In fact, it began long before this recession started. Wages have been stagnant and more than 2 million good-paying manufacturing jobs have moved to cheaper labor markets.
Many express frustration that they cannot find these "green jobs" or they are not qualified for them. And the fact is, the average starting pay for available green jobs is $12 an hour. Secretary Solis hailed the jobs created in health care. It's true: it is a growing part of the labor market. But the 28,000 jobs created in August in the health care field barely offset the jobs lost in construction and manufacturing and are mostly much lower paid.
It's a grim picture made less so only because the pace of mass layoffs appears to be slowing and the panic in the financial markets has eased.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in an exclusive interview with CNN International, says the economy is back from the edge.
"We have brought the economy back from the edge of the abyss and you are starting to see the necessary conditions for a recovery but we don't have recovery yet – we have recovery underway, but we don't quite yet have the conditions for a self-sustaining economy led by private demand, which is what we're all committed to achieve."
The question now: when will that private demand start creating jobs? When will hundreds of billions in global stimulus dollars translate into actual growth? Will companies create jobs here? Or ramp up production in lower-cost international factories first? Will the jobs that come back have health benefits?
We know the questions. We just don't have the answers yet. Stay tuned.
Program Note: Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" each weekday on CNN's "American Morning," from 6-9 a.m. ET.