[fluidcruft]

Another demographic variable mentioned in the article is that the older end of the unemployed cohort had much lower rates of "attended college" and rises are expected as they age leave the workforce. At first my concern seeing that chart was "OMG why didn't anyone see this trend over the last 20 years and why hasn't it been part of the public discussion", but given at least that confound is not factored into the data display, my feeling is now that it's more of a meaningless fished graphic/statistic for effect/pageviews.