US unemployment will continue to grow with Drew Matus, a senior US economist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research in New York telling Bloomberg it will peak at 10.2% in the first quarter of next year. Which means we are a long way off from seeing any sort of recovery. analysts have told AFP that unemployment won't come down until there is a sustained growth rate of 3%. Not just for one quarter either.

Which is why we can expect to see more people lining up for low-paid work. The New York Times reports that hundreds of people were applying for a $13 an hour job as an administrative assistant. Applicants included a former IBM business analyst, a former director of human resources; and someone with 12 years of experience at accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. It's a significant drop in pay for them but at least it's a job.

The bottom line is this: with unemployment on the rise, the recession is not over and we can expect to see more people lining up for low-paid jobs. People will be making enormous adjustments. Which suggests that even when the recovery comes, it will take a long time before things get back to normal.