“The job market has gotten worse in the last 24 months for the middle aged worker,” Nancy Entrup commented on our Aging Worker Initiative blog post yesterday.

She is correct.

According to the government’s unpublished data, the average length of time out of work for Americans 55 and older in January 2011 was 44.3 weeks,  up from 42.8 weeks in December 2010.

This information is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Table 31: Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment, age, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, but you must email and request it.