While the country’s faulty unemployment surveys should take some major blame for taking us further away from what is considered “real” in this economy, New York Post reports that the latest unemployment rate for young Americans is at a new record high. I’ve never been a big “number” person, but 52 per cent sounds like a really bad number for unemployment.

The unemployment rate for young Americans has exploded to 52.2 percent—a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Department—meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.