US President Barack Obama has promised to get America's long-term unemployed back to work. But for many, that promise has come too late.

The US Department of Labour reports there were more people, in the month of December, who stopped looking for work than those who actually found a job. And more than a third of all unemployed workers have been job hunting for more than six months.

Al Jazeera's Kimberley Halkett reports from Gaithersburg, Maryland.