26. Some Firms Struggle to Hire Despite High Unemployment With about 15 million Americans looking for work, some employers are swamped with job applicants, but many employers can’t hire enough workers. What has changed in the jobs market? During the recession, millions of middle-skill, middle-wage jobs disappeared. Now with the recovery, these people can’t find the skilled jobs that they seek and have a hard time adjusting to lower-skilled work with less pay. Source: The Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2010 How will extending the period over which the government is willing to pay unemployment benefits to 99 weeks influence the cost of unemployment?