Behind the dry and dreary unemployment numbers that define this recession are millions of real people.</p><p>Theirs are the faces of unemployment. One of them may live next door.</p><p>The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics each month announces an official unemployment rate. Last month the official rate rose to 7.6 percent.</p><p>Buried in each month&#8217;s reports, though, are six alternative measures of unemployment that rarely get publicized. Yet they serve an important role. They spotlight long-term joblessness, discouraged job hunters and those who are underemployed in part-time jobs.</p><p>Taken together, those six measures of joblessness added up to 13.9 percent in January.</p><p>Meet some Kansas City-area residents who put faces on each of the six unemployment categories.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Six measures of joblessness</span></strong></p><p>The official unemployment rate is 7.6 percent, but additional government measures reveal that 13.9 percent of workers are either unemployed or underemployed. Here is a look at the six categories tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The first three are included in the official unemployment rate. The last three add measures of underemployment.</p><p><em><strong>Name: </strong>Cary Minkoff</em></p><p><em><strong>Category U-1:</strong></em></p><p><em>Unemployed 15 </em></p><p><em>weeks or longer</em></p><p><em><strong>Percentage: </strong>3.0 </em></p><p>Cary Minkoff wants a job like the job he had before &#8212; executive director of the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park &#8212; but he knows those opportunities are limited.</p><p>&#8220;My entire professional career has been in the JCC field &#8230; in New Orleans, in Charleston and in Memphis,&#8221; said the 44-year-old man. &#8220;Now my kids are in fifth and seventh grade, and we&#8217;d like to stay in this area. We love living here.&#8221;</p><p>So Minkoff is networking throughout the social service and community center sectors. He&#8217;s looking into health management, fitness and employee wellness opportunities.</p><p>&#8220;Because I spent my entire career in the JCC field, I tend to get pigeonholed, I think. I have transferable skills, but in reality there&#8217;s not much out there,&#8221; he said.</p><p>He had a severance package, so he hasn&#8217;t panicked yet. But, looking ahead, he&#8217;s concerned.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll be lucky to find something close to what I had,&#8221; Minkoff said.</p><p>The scarcity of comparable job opportunities locally has caused Minkoff in the last few weeks to rethink relocation.</p><p>Meanwhile, his daily planner is dotted with meetings of job clubs and professional associations and with &#8220;a nice network of folks in nonprofits. I&#8217;ve connected with people I never before had a reason to call. I know that&#8217;s going to get me where I want to go.&#8221;</p><p><em><strong>Name: </strong>Rachel Silk</em></p><p><em><strong>Category U-2:</strong> Job losers and those who completed a temporary job</em></p><p><em><strong>Percentage:</strong> 4.5</em></p><p>Rachel Silk last worked in August, when a seasonal warehouse job ended.</p><p>From April to August, she managed 30 employees who assembled gift packages for kids at summer camp. Since then, she&#8217;s been looking for any kind of office manager, receptionist or clerical work.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been sending out resumes for months,&#8221; said the 41-year-old single woman. &#8220;I assumed I could quickly find another job to start after the season.&#8221;</p><p>But that didn&#8217;t happen. She lost her condominium in foreclosure and moved in with her mother in Shawnee.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not even getting calls back from recruiters and temporary agencies,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Most of the resumes I send out, I don&#8217;t hear anything back from the company, or they turn out to be Internet scams.&#8221;