By Lee A. Daniels

The mixed record of recovery of the U.S. jobs crisis continued last month as the number of new jobs created substantially outstripped expectations – but was shadowed by an increase in the unemployment rate and the number of those jobless for six months or longer.

Employers added 290,000 jobs, nearly twice the number many economists had forecast. Nonetheless, the national unemployment rate increased to 9.9 percent, from the 9.7 percent level of the last three months, as the new burst of hiring drew more job-seekers to look for work. And the wide mismatch between the number of jobs available and the number of individuals looking for work – a 1 to 5.5 disparity – increased the number of long-term jobless last month to 6.7 million, from 6.5 million.

Many economists and other analysts believe that it will be at least several years before the number of new jobs created on a monthly basis will be able to match the number of job-seekers. That means that the number of long-term jobless – who now make up nearly 46 percent of the total of 15 million without jobs – will continue to grow and become a serious economic and social problem.

Lee A. Daniels is Director of Communications for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.; and Editor-in-Chief of TheDefendersOnline.