. >> reporter: barbara bobea is one of the hidden unemployed. people out of work so long, they have given up looking for a job and thus don't get counted in the unemployment rate. she lost her h.r. job two years ago, now lives in a homeless shelter and can't even afford a cell phone, which means prospective employers have no way to call her. >> if they say i'm not work, hard enough to get a job, i would tell them that they should try one day of homelessness. >> reporter: 19-year-old jason julien has job hunted for two years. >> i'm actually pretty depressed about the whole situation. i'm pretty sad about it. i still can't get a job, and i'm just in a pretty bad position right now. >> they are disproportionately young. they are disproportionately less educated. and they are disproportionately low income. >> reporter: professor andrew sum at boston's northeastern university put it together by the numbers. starting with the unemployment number, 12.8 million. then he added the hidden unemployed, 6.4 million. then under-employed, like part-timers who