Recessions have a way of freezing things. Credit, spending, labor mobility: everything seizes when uncertainty clutches the economy.

You can see signs of inertia both inside and outside the office. In the office, employees are spending more time with their current employer. The average salaried employee had spent 4.4 years with his employer in January 2010, nearly a full year longer than in 2000, and the highest number on record. An uncertain job market is keeping workers pat, and productive.

Outside the office, longer-term unemployment is becoming the new normal. In August, 6.2 million Americans, the population of Tennessee, were out of work for more than half a year. That's up 20 percent from August 2009, and it is by far the highest number on record. In fact, the median duration of unemployment today is twice the figure from the last major recession in the early 1980s.



The credit freeze has spread to a hiring freeze. But the stay-put economy isn't just about office, it's also about homes. Fewer children are leaving the nest. More families are coming together into single homes. Fewer parents are getting divorced. Love keeps families together, but the economy is providing a helluva glue, as well.

We've followed the boomerang trend, which is sending more college-educated graduates back to their parents to save while the hiring freeze thaws. Fully one in ten Americans between 20 and 35 chose to live with his or her parents to ride out the economic storm (see graph to the right.)