Though the true toll of the employment crisis is measured in human terms, it's the raw numbers that give perspective to the enormity of the situation.

Nearly 15 million Americans were out of work as we entered 2011. We exit with more than 13 million still looking for a job - not taking into account the significant number that have simply stopped looking for employment, the so-called underemployed, or those working involuntarily in part-time positions.

Here, then, are more statistics that add perspective to where we've been and, hopefully, where we're headed as we end one year and head into another:

• Twenty-three percent of employers intend to make full-time, permanent hires in 2012 (compared to 24 percent in 2011 and 20 percent in 2010). Nearly 60 percent of hiring managers expect no change in employment levels at their place of business next year.

• Fifteen percent - or 1.1 to 1.5 million unemployed Americans - say the recession and its long-term ramifications have "totally wrecked" their lives. Twenty-one percent have been "devastated," 33 percent consider them themselves permanently or temporarily "downsized." Twenty-three percent are "climbing back." Seven percent claim they've "made it back."

• Eighteen percent of American children resided with an unemployed or underemployed parent in 2010 (more than double the percentage in 2007).

• Forty-eight percent of the nation's employers intend to raise employee salaries by 1 percent to 3 percent in 2012; 36 percent do not anticipate raising wages at all.

• Average ratio of a CEO salary to the wages of an average American worker in 2009: 243:1. Average in 1965: 24:1.

• Sixty-six percent of Americans who report they've been devastated by the recession have "sold possessions to make ends meet." Over 70 percent admit to being "ashamed or embarrassed" by their circumstances, and 79 percent say those circumstances have strained their relations with family members.

• Twenty-three percent of businesses in the Midwest plan to hire new employees in 2012; 6 percent foresee layoffs this year.

• The current ratio of unemployed workers to job openings - 4.3:1 - marks the 34th straight month the ratio has exceeded 4 to 1. The highest ratio prior to the recession was 2.8:1. In December, 2000, the ratio stood at 1.1:1. At its worst, at the height of recession in 2009, there were 6.9 unemployed applicants for every available job.

• 5.7 percent of the jobless workforce nationally fall into the category of long-term unemployed (in excess of 27 weeks) - the most prolonged stretch by the greatest number of displaced workers in U.S. history.

• The overall U.S. unemployment rate in November: 8.6 percent (13.3 million). Unemployment among blacks stands at 15.5 percent, teens at 23.7 percent and Hispanics 11.4 percent and whites at 7.6 percent. Adjusted for "current labor force participation," the unemployment rate stands at 11.4 percent. It jumps to about 16 percent when marginally attached workers are added to the equation.

Sources: The Economic Policy Institute, CareerBuilder, The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, the Society for Human Resource Management, The Institute for the Study of Economics and the Environment at Lindenwood University; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Missouri Department of Economic Development.