These workers aren't counted in the unemployment rate , which hit 8.1% in February and is at 11.6% in Michigan. They're not eligible for federal benefits that provide a safety net for jobless people. Yet their pain is real, and their reduced spending is a drag on the economy.

Call them the walking wounded of this deep recession: Millions of workers whose incomes have fallen even as they manage to hold onto their jobs. Their shrunken pay has forced many of them to make painful sacrifices.

We all have friends and family members whose jobs haven't survived the last six years of state Democrats' economic "leadership."  We all have even more friends and family members who are stretching fewer dollars further... often well past the breaking point.  

And there are 622 more of them in Pontiac this morning after last night's school board meeting where every single district employee was laid off in a cost-cutting move that no one's even sure will save serious cash.  All of them.  The Detroit News was on-site:

"This is not right because it's the little people who are getting stepped on," said paraprofessional Sheila Williams, 56, who has worked in the district 12 years. "We haven't even been told how laying off everybody is going to save the district money."

District spokeswoman Georgette Johnson said the district is working on that part. Employees will be called back as needed, said Interim Superintendent Linda Paramore, and they should know by April 30. They'll be recalled based on seniority and qualifications. "They're working on the whole redesign, and we don't know yet how much money will be saved," she said.

Aaaand you could forgive a guy for wondering if this six-plus year economic winter is ever going to end.