Marie Jennings of Groton never expected to join the ranks of the unemployed, much less be forced to collect jobless benefits for nearly two years.

But the 55-year-old Jennings lost her job as a certified library technician at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base two years ago - after nearly a quarter-century of service - and hasn't been able to find work since.

"I thought I was going to be there forever," Jennings said.

Instead, she has joined the growing ranks of the so-called 99ers, those who have collected unemployment benefits for the maximum 99 weeks.

"I had never been on unemployment before," Jennings said. "I had worked since I was 15."

Now, she sleeps on a couch at her son's two-bedroom apartment - a place she also shares with two grandchildren - and counts on a former daughter-in-law to drive her to appointments.

"My kids are taking care of me, and that shouldn't be happening," Jennings said. "It's degrading. It's humiliating. It's frustrating. The list goes on."

Jennings' frustration is shared by tens of thousands of people as the nation's unemployment rate hovers around 9 percent, and a robust economic rebound has failed to materialize after the worst economic crisis in three generations.

No official tally exists for the number of people in America who have exhausted their unemployment benefits over the past few years. But some estimates place the number of 99ers at more than 1.5 million, a figure that appears to be growing as employers take longer than ever to fill openings.

"It's becoming a drag on the overall economy," said Patrick J. Flaherty, an economist with the state Department of Labor.

In Connecticut, well over half of the 115,000 people receiving unemployment compensation have been jobless for more than six months. And nearly 13,000 of those receiving benefits are within a few months of hitting their eligibility limit.

The state hands out about $36.6 million a week in unemployment compensation, with about half the payments funded by the federal government. The state's annual share, according to these figures, is approaching $1 billion, despite Connecticut's adding 31,000 jobs in the past year and a half.

Programs made available

In this part of the state, according to projections offered by the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Development Board, as many as 7,000 people will have reached 99er status by the end of 2011.

"When you're seeing three times the level of long-term unemployment than you've seen in the past, it's something that requires a different kind of approach," said John Beauregard, executive director of the local workforce board, which operates four regional CTWorks centers for the Labor Department.

Beauregard said he has started to transform some of his centers' programs to address issues of the long-term unemployed. Some of the program headings say it all: "Confidence Makeover: Rebound & Recover," "Surviving Tough Times" and "Over 40 & Looking for Work."

Beauregard said the mid-career worker has been hit particularly hard by long-term unemployment. But others point out that this economic downturn targeted nearly every age group and employment sector, with only the health care field remaining relatively unscathed.

In the past, the long-term unemployed tended to face the usual problems associated with poverty, such as low educational attainment, addiction and mental or physical health woes, experts said. But what distinguishes the 99ers, they say, is that many of them did things right - worked hard, gained educational skills and even attained prominent positions - only to find, because of systemic changes in their industries or sheer bad luck, that none of these qualities seem to matter anymore.

"Employers are being fussy," said Flaherty, the Labor Department economist. "They're looking for people with just the right skills."

And employers, he said, are less likely than ever to hire people who have been out of the work force for an extended period of time, worrying that their skills might not have kept up with the fast pace of technological change.

John Freer of Old Lyme, a human resources manager, suggested one way for the long-term unemployed to ease their way back into the work force: volunteer to help nonprofit agencies. Many of these organizations, he said, have training programs that could help the jobless attain skills they might otherwise not be likely to learn.

Just maintaining one's skills and staying in touch with other people is important during long bouts of unemployment, he added.

"If you can attain the right skills, you can find a job," Flaherty said. "Education is still a wise investment. It's just not the guarantee it was in the past."

Age a factor?

Jennings, the Groton 99er, said she has gone back to school several times to upgrade her skills but remains a few credits away from completing a college degree. She had to put her education on hold when bills piled up too high, said Jennings, who returned to work briefly during the holidays but is back on unemployment, earning $66 a week.

Jennings, who once earned $16 an hour, said she recently has been applying for housekeeping and waitressing jobs, still without luck. She has come close to landing a couple of library jobs, but each time lost out to someone else.

"I'm scared," she said. "I wonder if I'm one step away from being a bag lady."

Sometimes Jennings wonders if her age is a factor in not finding a job, or if she should try to be more aggressive in going after what she wants. But she said her customer-service skills are much sharper than those of many of the younger workers she runs into, and she thinks she'd do a great job if just given a chance.

"I'd do anything to work," she said. "I'd work two jobs if they let me."

Labor experts point out that they are largely in uncharted territory when it comes to dealing with 99ers. No one tracks what happens to people once they exhaust their unemployment benefits, although Beauregard said his office is dealing more and more with referring people to other agencies that deal with mortgage, child care and mental-health issues.

Jennings said she has suffered from panic attacks and still fights off lingering effects of self-doubt.

"I don't know what to do now. I don't know where to go," she said. "I got to start over someplace else, and I don't know where to start."

l.howard@theday.com