RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Chuck Dettman said he had not really considered the notion back in 2001 that he and his friends in a job-search support group would never recover from being laid off.

Dave Himmelheber on his lunch break in West Palm Beach, Fla., in July.

Jim Clark, 60, made $20,000 a year as a cantor at a Catholic church after being laid off as an engineering assistant pulling in about $49,000.

The country was in a recession then, as now, and the professionals who had just lost their jobs met weekly at a local job center to network and trade advice. Despite the national economic problems, they remained confident that they would not only find work but would also be compensated as they had been ...