BY GINA G. SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

With only 96,000 jobs added in August, it would seem that’s why the unemployed worker is, well, still unemployed.

But based on a new survey by Bullhorn, the recruiting software company, the unemployed worker may still be out-of-work because recruiting and hiring managers deem them “very difficult” to position: more difficult, in fact, than a worker with a criminal record.

The survey, conducted last month of 1,500 anonymous recruiting and hiring managers, asked the professionals to rank placing certain candidates on a scale from 1 to 5, with five being the most difficult. Nearly half respondents said candidates who had been unemployed for more than two years are “very difficult” to place. And 43 percent ranked long-term unemployed candidates fourth or “difficult” to place.

Non-felony criminal record candidates are more employable, the survey found, with just 31 percent of hiring managers ranking those candidates a five. 32 percent surveyed rated the same candidates a four.

"As you try hard to claw your way out of unemployment and you don’t succeed, you become less employable," Vinda Rao, a marketing manager with Bullhorn, told The Huffington Post. "It's completely antithetical to how we'd want it to be."

It only takes being out of work for six months to year to be considered a challenge for recruiters, according to 36 percent of those polled. The Bureau of Labor Statics reports an estimated 1.8 million Americans have been out of work more than 99 weeks. That number only accounts for those unemployed workers who have looked for work in the past month, according to Forbes.

The federal labor board doesn’t take into account the unemployed who want to work but have thrown in the towel. More than 365,000 Americans gave up looking for work in August, contributing to a slight dip in the national unemployment rate, the Department of Labor reported earlier this month.

Forbes reported there are roughly seven million Americans out of work who have given up, though no one knows just how long those people have been unemployed.

“One of the most frustrating elements of a job search is the silence — not knowing whether you’re even being considered for an interview. We wanted to help shed some light on what goes on in the minds of recruiters,” Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn, said in a statement occupying the survey results. “Being informed can help candidates avoid certain traps and increase their likelihood of getting a job. The bottom line is that recruiters understand what their clients value most and certain factors, whether controllable or not, will impact a person’s chances of landing a job.”

Long-term unemployment brings more than just discrimination and self-doubt, though. It can bring depression, stress and anger, according to an Everyday Health article.

In an article for AOL Jobs, Fran Hopkins wrote, “Now and then, I do feel angry. Angry that I was laid off, angry that I can't find my "dream" job no matter what I do, angry that my chances of finding a job diminish with every passing day, angry that I'm forced to spend now what I'd put away for my retirement, angry that I can't replace it, angry that I need to think two or three times before I make a significant purchase. I'm not normally the kind of person who likes to acknowledge feeling angry. It's too strong of an emotion. Instead, I might say that something makes me "mad." But anger? That suggests an out-of-control rage to me; "anger" feels upsetting and a little scary. So while I occasionally recognize feelings of anger in myself, I usually try to channel them into more positive, productive activities.”

What Hopkins found was that many long-term unemployed internalize their anger, turn to drugs, alcohol or overeating or other self-destructive habits.

At this very moment, there are roughly 23.1 million Americans who are unemployed or underemployed (including the discouraged), 12.5 million active job seekers, and 8 million part time workers who want/need full time jobs, according to Forbes.

Since January, 139,000 jobs a month have been added: 14,000 less than last year’s average. The hourly pay has also fallen and 15,000 manufacturing jobs were cut. That’s the largest amount of lost jobs in that industry since 2010.