PITY the poor labor economists. They build their careers studying one of the most complicated bazaars in the economic world--the marketplace for jobs. Not only that, but their labors have become even more high-stakes in recent decades, as an increasingly technological economy seems to be pushing more and more unskilled Americans into poverty. The popular magazine BusinessWeek poses the question this way: "What’s happening in the world’s richest, most powerful country when so many families seem to be struggling? And what can be done?"