The Longer You're Unemployed, the Harder It Is to Get Hired
Here, some new research findings on the current economic climate, which we sincerely hope that you are reading while at work. *Forced, desperate smile* Some economists decided to find out how length of unemployment affects your chances of finding a new job. So they sent thousands of fictitious resumes out to respond to thousands of job ads, and, long story short: "the likelihood of receiving a callback for an interview significantly decreases with the length of a worker's unemployment spell."
On the bright side, it only really gets worse for the first eight months of unemployment, though. Then it just stays worse. And the effect is mitigated during times of higher unemployment, because employers presumably understand that it's harder to find work. Of course, during times of higher unemployment, there are no jobs to apply for anyhow. So it would be a moot point.