The Federal Reserve has engineered a massive easing program to help cut joblessness over the past six years, pushing its balance sheet above $4 trillion and sending short-term interest rates to record lows.But the Fed is really powerless to improve the job market now, says John Ryding, chief economist for RDQ Economics.The unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent in March. And the labor force participation rate totaled 63.2 percent, not far above December's 62.8 percent, which tied a 35-year low."I'm not saying we should write them [the unemployed] off, but I don't think monetary policy can help them and that's the key difference," Ryding tells CNBC . "What we have is a low hiring rate and a lot of job openings given where the unemployment rate is."In a recent study, Princeton University economists Alan Krueger, former chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors; Judd Cramer; and David Cho found that just 11 percent of the long-term unemployed find a job within a year."Statistical discrimination against the long-term unemployed could lead to discouragement, and skill erosion that accompanies long-term unemployment could induce employers to discriminate against the long-term unemployed," the economists write.Meanwhile, Stanford University economist Robert Hall argues in a new paper that the labor-force participation will remain depressed for years, The Wall Street Journal reports.That's because people will be less inclined to seek jobs as a result of their dependence on welfare programs such as food stamps and Social Security disability payments, he says.