We all know the words unemployment and underemployment, but are you familiar with the term "malemployment?" Chances are, even if you don’t know the word, you know some who’s suffering through it. Malemployment, unlike underemployment, isn’t about workers having too little work. It’s about college degree holders working jobs that don’t require college degrees. 

The United States' average unemployment rate is 10.2%. But that average conceals a wide range of very real statistics for different groups of people currently out of work. For African Americans, joblessness rates are much higher than the average – more than 15% nationwide. This week, the N.A.A.C.P. and a host of other groups called on President Obama to do more to create jobs. We speak with Hilary Shelton, senior vice president for advocacy and policy for the N.A.A.C.P., and Amanda Cox, a graphics editor at The New York Times, whose recent project explored U.S. unemployment data by race, gender, age and education levels. We also speak with Takeaway listener Francine Morin, who rang us some months ago on her way to a job interview and now, at last, has a job.

Today nearly 14 percent of Americans are underemployed. This is proving to be a challenge for beleaguered bosses and disgruntled employees struggling to keep morale up in the workplace. For those who are despairing, fear not. The ideal that IKEA holds forth in the form of those little flat wrenches and a lot of elbow grease, could prove to have some answers for business leaders, policymakers and everyday workers. It turns out what is true for the success of IKEA—the sense of accomplishment many experience in assembling IKEA’s housewares—could have broader implications. Joining us to discuss a phenomenon called “The IKEA Effect" is Dan Ariely, the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational.

The unemployment numbers on the first Friday of every month only tell part of the economic story. All this week, The Takeaway is looking at underemployment. We want to hear your story. Call us at 877-8MY-TAKE.

They’re called many things in today’s job market: the part-time worker, the contingent worker, temporaries, distressed, discouraged, fill-ins, per diems, freelancers, permalancers and contractors. These workers make up a gray area in the labor market and many of them would like full time work, and the benefits that go with it, but can’t find those jobs. As the first installment of a new series at The Takeaway, hosts John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji take a look at the underemployed and how they fit into a labor market squeezed by a deepening recession.