Baby boomers are being especially hard hit by the recession.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2009-06-11-workweek_N.htm

I like the following line:
"Congress' approval of higher and longer unemployment benefits may contribute to the extra time spent between jobs"

Science tells us as much. The most fundamental theory is psychology is behavior modification. If you want to increase some action, reward it. If you want to decrease some action, punish it.
So, provide unemployment and aid to single parents to increase unemployment and single parent households and tax interest income and capital gains if you want to reduce investments and capital for production.